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SHREW

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 1016 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SHREW ,' a See also:

term applied to the See also:species of the See also:family Soricidae of the mammalian See also:order insectivora (q.v.), but in the See also:British Isles to the See also:common and lesser shrews (Sorex araneus and S. minimus). The common shrew, or, properly, shrew-See also:mouse, which in See also:England is by far the commoner of the two, is a small See also:animal 1 This word, whence comes the participial See also:adjective " shrewd," astute, originally meant malicious, and, as applied to a woman, still means a vexatious See also:scold. From their supposed venomous See also:character it was applied to the Soricidae. See also:young may be found in the nests; they are naked, See also:blind and toothless at See also:birth, but soon run about snapping at everything within reach. The alpine shrew (S. alpinus), restricted to the alpine region of Central See also:Europe, is slightly longer than the common shrew and differs in its longer tail, which exceeds the length of the See also:head and See also:body, in the See also:colour of the See also:fur, which is dark on both surfaces, and in the large See also:size of the upper antepenultimate premolar. The See also:water-shrew (Neomys fodiens), the third species inhabiting England, differs from the common shrew in being larger with a shorter and broader muzzle, smaller eyes and larger feet adapted for See also:swimming—the sides of the feet and toes being provided with See also:comb-like fringes of stiff hairs. The tail is longer than the body, and has a fringe of moderately See also:long regularly ranged hairs, which extend along the See also:middle of the under See also:surface from the end of the basal third to the extremity. The fur is long and dense, varying in colour in different individuals; the prevailing shades are dark, almost See also:black, See also:brown above, beneath more or less See also:bright ashy tinged with yellowish; but occasionally we find individuals with the under surface dark-coloured. In the number and shape of the See also:teeth the water-shrew differs from the common shrew: there is a premolar less on each See also:side above; the bases of the teeth are more prolonged posteriorly; and their cusps are less stained brown, so that in old individuals they often appear See also:white. This species is aquatic in habits, swimming and diving with agility. It frequents See also:rivers and lakes, making burrows in the See also:banks, from which when disturbed it escapes into the water. Its See also:food consists of water See also:insects and their larvae, small crustaceans and probably the See also:fry of small fishes.

It is generally distributed throughout England, is less common in See also:

Scotland and not recorded in See also:Ireland. The See also:geographical range of the common shrew is wide, extending eastwards through Europe and See also:Asia to Amurland. The lesser shrew extends through Europe and Asia to See also:Sakhalin See also:Island; and specimens of the water-shrew have been brought from different parts of Europe and Asia as far See also:east as the See also:Altai. In See also:Siberia the common shrew is abundant in the See also:snow-clad wastes about the Olenek See also:river within the See also:arctic circle. Other species of red-toothed shrews are restricted chiefly to See also:North See also:America, where they are found in greater variety than in the Old See also:World, though Neomys is not represented. Its See also:place is taken by Sorex palusiris east of the Rocky Mountains, and S. hydrodromus in Unalaska Island, which, like the water-shrew, have fringes of See also:hair on the feet, but the unfringed tail and dentition of the common shrew. Of the See also:American forms S. bendiri is the largest. Other red-toothed shrews belonging to the genus Blarina, distinguished from Sorex by the dentition and the shortness of the tail, are common in North America. All red-toothed shrews (except the aquatic forms) closely resemble one another,in habits, but the See also:short-tailed North American shrew supplements its insectivorous fare by feeding on See also:beech nuts. In destroying See also:numbers of slugs, insects and larvae, shrews aid the See also:farmer and merit See also:protection. Although their odour renders them safe from rapacious animals, they are destroyed in numbers by owls. (G.

E.

End of Article: SHREW

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