INTRODUCTION. 
13 
the Wild Cat who “sleeps by day” (Merck, of Venice , 
Act ii. Sc. 5, and Pericles , Act iii. Intro.) ; “ the quarrelous 
Weasel ” ( Cymbeline , Act iii. Sc. 4, and Henry IV. Part I. 
Act ii. Sc. 3) ; “ the Dormouse of little valour” (Twelfth 
Night , Act iii. Sc. 1) ; “the joiner Squirrel” (Romeo and 
Juliet , Act i. Sc. 4), whose habit of hoarding appears to 
have been well known to Shakespeare (Midsummer 
Night's Dream y Act iv. Sc. 2) ; and “ the blind Mole,” who 
“ casts copp’d hills towards heaven ” ( Pericles , Act i. 
Sc. 1) ; *—all these are mentioned in their turn, while 
the Bat “with leathern wing,”f “the venom Toad,” “ the 
thorny Hedgehog,”j “the Adder blue,” and the “spotted 
Snake with double tongue,” are all called in most aptly by 
way of simile or metaphor. 
We cannot forget Titania’s directions to her fairies in 
regard to Bats :— 
“ Some war with rear mice § for their leathern wings, 
To make my small elves coats” 
( Midsummer Night's Dreamy Act ii. Sc. 2) ; 
* See also Winter s Tale , Act iv. Sc. 3. 
f In the Midland Counties, the bat is often called leathern-wings. Compare the 
high German “ leder-mans." 
X . “ hedgehogs which 
Lie tumbling in my bare-foot way, and mount 
Their pricks at my footfall.” Tempest , Act ii. Sc. 2. 
§ “ Rere-mouse" from the old English ‘‘ hrere-mus ,’’ literally a raw mouse. The 
adjective “ rere ” is still used in Wiltshire for “raw.” The bat is also known as the 
“ rennie-mouse ” or “ reiny-mouse,” although Miss Gurney, in her “ Glossary of 
Norfolk Words,” gives “ ranny ” for the shrew-mouse. The old name of “ flitter- 
mouse,” “ fluttermouse,” or “ fliddermouse,” from the high German, “ fleder- 
maus," does not appear in Shakespeare’s works. 
