*Lesser Shrew* (_Sorex minutus_, Linn.). The Lesser or Pigmy Shrew is the smallest of all British mammals. It may be described roughly as a smaller edition of the Common Shrew, and until recent years was considered to be only the juvenile form of that species, for which, no doubt, it is still mistaken frequently. It appears to be widely distributed in Britain, but is local, the areas in which it occurs being limited and patchy when marked on the map. These are mostly in wooded districts, but extend from sea-level to the tops of our highest mountains, for it has been found on Ben Nevis at a height of 4,400 feet. In Ireland, from which the Common Shrew is entirely absent, its place is taken by the Lesser Shrew, though it is not nearly so abundant as the Common Shrew is in Britain. Seen side by side these two species are sufficiently distinct, but apart they may be taken as identical. The earlier British naturalists had not learned to discriminate one from the other, and even Bell, as late as 1837, does not mention the Lesser Shrew, though in the second edition of his work (1874) it appears in a description by Alston. If we take average length of head and body in an adult Common Shrew as three inches, we shall find that a similar individual of the Lesser Shrew measures only two inches and a quarter--a reduction of 25 per cent. The hind foot without the claws in the Common Shrew is half an inch, but in the Lesser Shrew it is one-sixth less. The actual length of the tail is about the same in both species, but proportionately there is a difference, for whilst that of the Common Shrew only equals half the length of head and body, in the Lesser Shrew it is equal to two-thirds. But it has been held that the length of the hind feet alone is distinctive, and that "any Shrew in which these reach or exceed 12 millimetres may be set down as of the larger species." The colour of the fur is the brown and white of the common species with a fairly sharp line of demarcation between them. Though the animal as a whole is more delicately built, the snout is relatively longer and thicker; the tail also thicker and more hairy; the forearm and hand are shorter. The sensitive snout appears to be more useful than its eyes in hunting. As the result of his experiments, Adams is of opinion that the sight of Shrews is not much--if at all--better than that of the Mole. Yet it must hunt incessantly for, owing to its rapid digestion, frequent meals are a necessity. It is so delicately organised that it has been found that detention in a trap for only a few minutes is fatal to it; and captured specimens that have been carried in the hand for a few hundred yards have died shortly after.