92 Mr. J. E. Harting on Forest Animals.
Childrey in his Britannia Baconica, 1660, relates (p. 14)
that in 1580 an extraordinary swarm of Field-mice appeared
in Denge Hundred, Essex, and eat up all the roots of the
grass. "A great number of Owles," he says, "of strange
and various colours [doubtless the Short-eared Owl]
assembled, and devoured them all; and after they had
made an end of their prey, they took flight back again from
whence they came."
We come now to the order Insectivora, or insect-eating
mammals, of which I have two to bring to your notice as
dwellers in the forest, namely, the Common Shrew and the
Hedgehog. The animals belonging to this order are at
once distinguishable from the Rodents by their dentition.
The latter, as I have pointed out, have no canine teeth;
Insectivora have, and their dentition generally resembles
that of the strictly insectivorous bats, the molars, or
grinding teeth, being similarly furnished with several sharp
cusps or points which are characteristic of insect-eating
mammals, and all the teeth have roots or fangs. There
are other peculiarities of structure, with which, however,
at present I need not trouble you.
From its shy and retired habits, the Common Shrew is
not often to be observed in a living state, but may frequently
be seen lying dead on the pathway. The cause of the
mortality amongst these little animals, though frequently
noticed, has never been satisfactorily accounted for; and
Bell, in his "British Quadrupeds," has not attempted any
explanation. It has been said that their odour is repulsive
to their enemies, who will kill but will not eat them ; but
this is not invariably the case, for I have found numerous
skulls of shrews in "pellets" of the barn owl, and once
took two of these little creatures from the stomach of a
stone curlew.
Of the Hedgehog I might say a good deal, but having so
many other "Forest Animals" on my list I must be brief.
Although from its structure and mode of life the hedge-
hog is properly classed with the Insectivora, it is really
omnivorous. Nothing seems to come amiss to it. Beetles,
worms, slugs, snails, frogs, mice, eggs, young chickens, and