394 



FOUR-FOOTED AMERICANS 



It is a vigorous animal, not liibernating in the coldest 

 weather, and you may almost mistake its tiny footprints 

 on the snow for bird-tracks. It is a savage little beast, 

 too, and a blood-thirsty fighter, being the especial enemy 

 of the Meadow Mouse, or Vole, as some people call it. 



" Many Wise 

 Men whose 

 words we can 

 trust have told 

 of battles be- 

 tween these 

 Shrews o n 1 3- 

 three and three- 

 quarter inches 

 long and iMead- 

 ow ]\Iice fovr 

 and one - half 

 inches long. 

 One of these 

 men, in order to 

 see exactly how 

 it was done, jDUt 

 a Shrew and a 

 Meadow Mouse 

 into a box and 

 watched them. Soon they were rolling about in a rough- 

 and-tumble fight, the Shrew biting at the ears of the 

 Mouse, which he finally killed and immediately began 

 to eat. So when we think how mischievous the Meadow 

 Mouse is, we should be very grateful to this Shrew 

 with tlie lead-colored fur and short tail. 



"There is another Shrew, common in the middle 



Short-tailed Shrew. 



