160 



MAMMALS. 



from * many a mossy bank.' A certain superstitious feeling still 

 clings around its presence in Ardclach, as in many other parts of 

 Scotland. 



Sorex minutus, X. Lesser Shrew. 



This has only been recently recognised as an inhabitant of Moray, 

 specimens having been sent to Mr. W. Eagle-Clarke, for the 

 Edinburgh Museum, by the late George Gordon, LL.D., in 

 1891. Although Dr. Gordon realised that there were certainly 

 two species of Shrew in the Province when he wrote his reprint 

 of the Fauna of Moray (1889), this species was not accurately 

 identified. We have little doubt its distribution is general over 

 Scotland, as well as among the Isles, although actual data are 

 still desiderata. Mr. W. Taylor says it is common near Lhan- 

 bryde ; he caught ten specimens amongst the heather in a wood 

 near there. 



Crossopus fodiens (Pallas). Water Shrew. 



The Water Shrew is not uncommon in the eastern parts of Suther- 

 land, and has been taken on several occasions near Brora and 

 Golspie, and indeed it is a widely distributed species. It has 

 been observed at Invergarry by Murdoch Matheson.^ 



Mr. W. Taylor considers this species scarce in the neighbour- 

 hood of Lhanbryde, but he had procured three specimens : one at 

 Lhanbryde, one in Barmuckity, and one from Lochnabo ; this 

 last was got under the ice during the heavy frost of January 

 2nd (1891). Two were seen trying to get out, when some boys 

 broke the ice and succeeded in catching one of them. 



The Water Shrew is far from uncommon, although not often 

 observed. Mr. Thomson tells us : — ' Our cat procured a couple 

 of specimens for me from the same stream, near the school-bouse, 

 but, as in the case of their nearest relative, refused to eat 

 them.' Several have been caught also lower down the Findhorn, 

 near Forres, in January 1892, and sent to Mr. Eagle-Clarke 

 for the Edinburgh Museum. The species seems to have been 



1 Murdoch Matheson, ghillie to Captain Ellice of Invergarry, an observant lad, 

 to whom we are indebted for many notes from the district of Invergarry. 



