Vermin of the Farm. 
227 
remember the description of the “ shrew-ash,” whose twigs or 
branches when applied to the limbs of cattle were supposed to 
immediately relieve the pains which the beast suffers from the 
running of a shrew over the part affected.* It seems almost 
needless at the present day to remark that the common shrew 
is perfectly harmless, and living as it does chiefly upon worms 
and insect larvae, and sometimes (according to Jesse) upon young 
frogs, its name should for ever be removed from the list of so- 
called “vermin.” 
An excellent field naturalist, the late Charles St. John, has 
stated in his “ Natural History of the Highlands,” that the 
Fiq. 4. — ^The Common Shrew, Sorex araneus. 
shi’ew-mouse has a propensity for barking trees, but we have 
never been able to confirm this observation. 
The water shrew (Crassoptcs fodiens) a larger species, 
measuring about five inches in length instead of four, is by 
nature, as its name implies, of moi’e aquatic habits, and is 
usually found in the vicinity of some pool or rivulet in the 
bank of which it forms a long and winding burrow terminating 
in a small chamber lined with dry grass, in which the young, 
six to ten in number, are deposited about the beginning of May. 
In addition to the food taken by its smaller relative, the water 
shrew preys on fresh-water mollusca, minute Crustacea, and 
small fish, which it pursues (as remarked by an eye-witness) 
' JVatwal History of Selhorrke. Letter XXVIII. to Daines Barrington. 
