THIS curious little animal closely resembles a mouse, except in its snout, which is long and pointed, to enable it to grub in the ground for its food, which consists of earthworms, and the grubs of beetles. The Shrew, like the mole, is very fond of fighting; and when two are seen together, they are generally engaged in a furious battle. Like the hedgehog, it has been much scandalized by false reports, as will be seen by the following extract from that most amusing and interesting work, _White’s Selborne_: “At the south corner of the area, near the church, there stood, about twenty years ago, a very old, grotesque, hollow pollard-ash, which for ages had been looked upon with no small veneration as a shrew-ash. Now a shrew-ash is an ash whose twigs and branches, when applied to the limbs of cattle, will immediately relieve the pains which a beast suffers from the running of a Shrew-mouse over the part affected; for it is supposed that a Shrew-mouse is of so baneful and deleterious a nature, that whenever it creeps over a beast, be it a horse, or cow, or sheep, the suffering animal is afflicted with cruel anguish, and threatened with the loss of the use of the limb. Against this accident, to which they were continually liable, our provident forefathers always kept a shrew-ash at hand, which, when once medicated, would maintain its virtue for ever. A shrew-ash was made thus:--into the body of the tree a deep hole was bored with an auger, and a poor devoted Shrew mouse was thrust in alive, and plugged in.” The cruelty of this, and many other practices of our ancestors, ought to make us thankful that we live in more enlightened days. The body of the Shrew exhales a rank musky odour, which renders the animal so offensive to cats, that though they will readily kill them, they will not eat their flesh. This noisome odour probably gave rise to the notion that the Shrew-mouse is a venomous animal, and its bite dangerous to cattle, particularly horses. It is, however, neither venomous nor capable of biting, as its mouth is not sufficiently wide to seize the double thickness of the skin, which is absolutely necessary in order to bite. The female Shrew makes her nest in a bank, or if on the ground, she covers it at the top, always entering on the side; and she has generally from five to seven young ones at a time. The Water Shrew (_Sorex fodiens_,) is a beautiful little creature, with somewhat differently formed feet and tail, to enable it to paddle through the water, in which it dives and swims with great agility. When floating “on the calm surface of a quiet brook,” or diving after its food, its black velvety coat becomes silvered over with the innumerable bubbles of air that cover it when submerged; though when it rises again, the fur is observed to be perfectly dry, repelling the water as completely as the feathers of a water-fowl. § III. _Cheiropterous Animals._ [Illustration: THE BAT. (_Vespertilio Noctula._)]