I04 SORICID^— SOREX 



for there is as yet no evidence that the young breed during their 

 first summer.^ The nursery, 



" A wee bit heap o' leaves and stibble, 

 Which costs it mony a weary nibble,"^ 



is most frequently found in hayfields at mowing time.* It 

 consists of soft herbage, dried grass, and withered leaves, and is 

 placed in some hole or depression in the open ground, in a tuft 

 of grass, under a heap of sticks, or upon a bank. It is usually 

 described as resembling that of the Harvest-mouse and having 

 a round, cricket-ball-like appearance without visible hole for 

 entrance or exit, such movements being quite easily executed 

 through the yielding walls, which, being drawn together again, 

 tell no tales. Mr Adams, however, on careful examination of 

 three nests, found that they were in reality cup-shaped. The 

 roofs lay loose upon them and could be removed without injury. 

 The occupants could slip out all round by passing between the 

 roof and the cup, and this formation makes the statement more 

 intelligible that even when the top has been shaved off by a 

 mower, or the nest has been otherwise disturbed, the mother 

 does not readily desert her young, but re-covers the nursery with 

 grass ; sometimes, however, she is said to remove the family to 

 a new site. A fourth nest examined by Mr Adams was not so 

 carefully constructed, being a mere ball of bitten grass. Mr 

 William Evans sends me a note of an exceptional nest 

 found near Dunbar by Mr G. Pow, which was placed in a 

 young spruce fir, at about three feet from the ground, and 

 formed entirely of thistledown. It contained a dead shrew. 

 Mr H. E. Forrest reports a nest in a bee-hive which contained 

 two old shrews and eight young ones. 



The increase of the species which such a numerous progeny 

 might be calculated to produce, is counterbalanced, not only by 

 the destruction wrought amongst them by the agency of other 



' Suckling females are heavily coated over the abdomen with glandular fat 

 (Adams, MS.). 



^ As aptly quoted by J. J. Briggs, who has placed on record some interesting 

 details ; see Zoologist, 1848, 2280. 



^ Some of the nests reported may have been built for dormitories, and not 

 nurseries, as it does not seem to be known exactly how shrews sleep. They certainly 

 construct sleeping nests in captivity. 



