THE COMMON SHREW 103 



it horse, cow, or sheep, the suffering animal is afflicted with 

 cruel anguish, and threatened with the loss of the use of the 

 limb. Against this accident, to which they were continually 

 liable, our provident fore-fathers always kept a shrew-ash at 

 hand, which, when once medicated, would maintain its virtue 

 for ever. A shrew-ash was made thus : — Into the body of the 

 tree a deep hole was bored with an auger, and a poor devoted 

 shrew-mouse was thrust in alive, and plugged in, no doubt, with 

 several quaint incantations long since forgotten."^ 



Another cure was to make the shrew-struck person or 

 animal pass through the arch of a bramble, both ends of which 

 were rooted and growing ; and in Cheshire the small twigs and 

 young boughs of a shrew-ash were gathered and hung on the 

 roof over cows before calving-time.^ 



The genital organs begin to become functional in February, 

 and the rutting season commences in March, before which 

 month the sexes are difficult to distinguish even by dissection. 

 It is probable that the soft passion incites to much pugnacity, 

 since Mr Millais has noticed that the fighting season begins in 

 March. According to Professor Collett, a pairing female may 

 be pursued by several males, and the chase is productive of 

 much squeaking. 



The length of the period of gestation is unknown, but it is 

 not likely that it differs widely from that of the Water 

 Shrew. 



The blind and naked young, which may reach ten in 

 number,' are born in every month from April, although rarely 

 in that month, to late November, Mr Oxley Grabham having 

 met with a family of five half-grown young on the ist October, 

 and Mr Archibald Thorburn a nest as late as the 19th 

 November.* The varied dates suggest the probability that 

 second or even third litters, follow the first at rapid intervals, 



' For a similar practice, see Plot's Staffordshire, 222. 



^ J. F. Robinson in the Manchester City News of 30th June 1883, as quoted by 

 Coward and Oldham. 



' See Zoologist, 1896, 432. Adams found 10 embryos (twice), 9 (once), 8 (six 

 times), 7 (four times), 6 (once), 5 (once) 4 (twice), and 2 (once), in eighteen pregnant 

 females. The average works out at exactly 7. 



* In Millais. Adams has captured recently impregnated females on 2 1 st November 

 {op. cit., infra, p. 108). 



