THE MOUSE. 



toach the ground, doth help those that are grieved or pained 

 in their bodies with sores or boils. The shrew which dyeth in 

 the furrow of a cart-wheel being found and rowled in potter's 

 clay or a iinnen cloth, or in crimson or in scarlet woollen cloth, 

 and three times marked about the imposthumes which will 

 suddenly swell in any man's body, will very speedily and eflfec- 

 toally help and cure the same. The tail of a shrew being cut 

 off and burned, and afterwards beaten into dust and applied or 

 anointed upon the sores of any man which came by the bite of 

 a greedy and ravenous dog, will in a very short space make 

 both whole and sound, so that the tail be cut from the shrew 

 when she is alivg, not when she is dead, for then it hath neither 

 good operations nor efficacy in it." 



It is hard to conjecture how it came about that the poor 

 little shrew-mouse should be regarded as such a baneful mon- 

 ster. True, it wiU. fight like a fury with its own species — ^indeed, 

 it is impossible to keep two in the same cage — and will devour 

 its enemy should it have the lack to slay it ; but that so small 

 a creature should be able to terrify mankind, it is not easy to 

 understand, especially considering its unoffending aspect and 

 unobtrusive habits. 



The shrew, in the form of its body and the texture of its 

 far, closely resembles the domestic mouse. The head, however, 

 is totally different ; the snout being long and tapering, the eyes 

 very minute and almost hidden in the surrounding hairs, and 

 the ears round and set very close to the head. The teeth are pe- 

 culiar, the incisors being extremely long, and those of the upper 

 jaw curved and notched at their base, while those of the lower 

 jaw project almost horizontally. The tips of aU. the teeth are 

 tinged with a reddish brown colour ; which, by-the-by, aa it 

 might pass for blood-stain, may after aU be the secret of the 

 superstitious dread with which our forefathers r^arded the 

 little animal. Worms and insects are shrews' chief diet. The 

 nest, which is usually made in a hole in a bask, is composed 

 of dried herbage and is covered at the top, having an entrance 

 at the side. Spring is the time for the shrew-mouse to bring 

 forth its young, and usually five or seven is the number bom. 



THE HAKVEST MOTISE. 



It would seem that the indefatigable Gilbert White of Sel- 

 bome was the first to take special notice of this pigmy of the 

 genus Mws. Writing to his friend Pennant, he says : " I have 

 44 



