INSECT-EATING MAMMALS 71 



forms have been met with in England with a white band over the 

 loins, or boldly pied in other ways with white patches. Although 

 the normal colour of the upper parts is a reddish-gray, this tint 

 strengthens into chestnut in some examples, or deepens into 

 black. The external rim or conch of the ear is small and 

 rounded, but is quite discernible. On the flanks on either side 

 there is a gland covered by rows or patches of hairs much coarser 

 than the rest of the coat. These glands secrete a fluid of an 

 ofi^ensive musky scent which makes the shrew distasteful to some 

 carnivorous birds and beasts. 



The food of the shrew consists of worms and insects of all 

 kinds — slugs, snails, and even young frogs. From the enormous 

 amount of grubs and slugs which they devour, the shrew is a 

 great benefactor to the agriculturist. As it is in every other 

 respect perfectly harmless to man or to his crops, it is deserving 

 of close protection at our hands. Nevertheless, in past times 

 and even at the present day the shrew was persecuted by country 

 people. It was thought to be very mischievous to cattle, and 

 able to poison them. It was believed, too, that it produced 

 lameness in the foot of man or beast if it ran over that foot, and 

 for the supposed harm done by the shrew the practice arose of 

 applying to a particular ash-tree for a remedy. A tree was 

 chosen in which a cylindrical hole or tunnel existed, or, 

 in default of this, a long hole was bored with an auger. 

 Into this tunnel in the wood a poor little shrew-mouse was thrust 

 alive, and the rest of the hole carefully blocked up. When it 

 was supposed that the shrew's body had decayed and fused with 

 the substance of the tree, thin twigs of this " shrew ash " were 

 potent as remedies for the poison caused by a shrew running 

 over or biting any creature, which had only to be touched with 

 the twigs to instantly recover. Our Board of Agriculture ought 

 to endeavour to spread throughout the kingdom into the rustic 

 mind the conviction that both species of shrew are absolutely 

 beneficial to man, in that they are engaged incessantly in the 

 destruction of noxious insects. Shrew-mice should be protected 

 by law, and it should be made a penal ofl^ence to kill one. 



