CHAPTER OF VARIETIES. 



515 



brief notices of Cuvier with popular details chiefly taken from Buffon, 

 but so wretchedly hashed up as to be even less readable than the bad 

 translation. The only redeeming feature, indeed, in Griffith's Cuvier 

 are the contributions and figures of Major Hamilton, which it is a pity 

 to see in such company. 



The translation, which we have announced below, has a much better 

 claim to public favour than that of Griffiths ; appears to be well exe- 

 cuted so far as we have compared it with the original of 1829 ; and in 

 place of the hash from BufFon, which needlessly swells out Griffiths, it 

 contains a few good notes from Blumenbach and others of recent 

 interest. The cost, also, of this new work, which is a material con- 

 sideration, is a trifle compared with the other, and even with the 

 original, notwithstanding the comparative greater cheapness of French 

 works. 



The coloured plates which accompany the work are taken from the 

 splendid French works of F. Cuvier, Werner, and others, and their 

 origin, indeed, is betrayed by their Frenchified air. 



We can, upon the whole, conscientiously recommend this work as 

 well worth the money to every naturalist who does not possess the 

 original. 



Shrew mouse. — 'Having read in your Magazine an account of wild 

 animals not being alarmed at the sight of man, provided he remain 

 stationary, I can add to the instance of the rat there mentioned, a more 

 remarkable one in the case of the shrew mouse. In consequence of the 

 bareness of the bushes from the tardy approach of the late spring, the 

 grasshopper warblers were very easy to be seen, and I had several times 

 an opportunity of watching them for a very considerable time, as they 

 were uttering their exceedingly curious note. On one occasion I had 

 been observing one for some time, when I heard some shrew mice 

 squeaking in a bush I was standing by; in a little time one ran out 

 into the clear space with the intention of reaching the next bush, about 

 two feet distant. Without making any noise I put my foot upon it 

 and killed it Immediately after another came out, and I also killed 

 that : afterwards a third, but this one was too quick for me, and es- 

 caped by running back into the bush ; in about a minute, however, he 

 came out again, and I then killed the third. I dare say I might have 

 killed another, as I heard more in the bush, but I felt some compunction 

 at my murderous proceedings, and made no farther attempt. As the 

 mice had all come exactly from the same part of the bush, I examined 



