72 BRITISH MAMMALS 



The female shrew makes a nest in the spring in some hole or 

 depression in the ground or in a bank. The nest is constructed 

 of soft herbage, is covered at the top, and entered from the side. 



Shrews utter faint squeaking cries, sometimes so shrill as not 

 to be audible to every person. They are very pugnacious, and 

 their spiteful attacks on each other have given rise to the adjective 

 " shrewish " in reference to similar actions on a larger scale in the 

 human species. The name, which is an Anglo-Saxon word, is 

 related to such meanings as shred^ shrive^ and relates to the action 

 of cutting, biting, or reproving. 



At certain seasons of the year shrews are often found dead on 

 paths and roadways. This is generally during the autumn, and is 

 now attributed, with some probability, to the starvation induced 

 by want of insect food at this season. These animals generally 

 hibernate during the winter, taking refuge in holes or crevices 

 made by other animals. 



The distribution of the common shrew again leaves out 

 Ireland, in which country it is totally unknown. In England and 

 Wales and in Scotland its distribution almost coincides with that 

 of the mole, as does also the length of its residence in Britain. 

 It is absent from the big islands off the west coast of Scotland, 

 and from the Hebrides. Outside Great Britain the shrew is 

 found round the northern regions of the world — 'Europe, Asia, 

 and North America. 



Sorex minutus. The Lesser or Pygmy Shrew 



This little creature is the smallest British mammal. Its 

 body is about if in. long and the tail about another \\ in. 

 The tail has rather a marked fringe along the upper surface. 

 There is a slight difference in the teeth between the Lesser 

 Shrew and the larger form. The first upper incisor is not 

 so long and prominent a tooth as in Sorex vulgaris. The 

 fore feet are also shorter proportionately. The general colour 

 is brown above and grayish-white on the under part. The brown 

 of the head and back displays almost an orange iridescence, and 

 the arrangements of the silky hairs recalls the beautiful "watered " 



