THE Water Shrew, though a native of this climate, was unknown to any naturalist till M. Daubenton+ discovered, and gave an exact description of it.3 This animal is taken near the sources of fountains, at the rising and setting of the sun. During the day, it lies concealed in clefts of rocks, or in holes upon the banks of rivulets. It brings forth in the spring, and the litter generally consists of nine. [308]
* This animal has a long slender nose, very minute ears, and very small eyes, hid in the fur: The colour of the head and upper part of the body is black; and of the throat, breast, and belly, a light ash-colour: Beneath the tail is a triangular spot. It is much larger than the common shrew, being, from nose to tail, three and three fourth inches long; and the length of the tail is two inches; Pennant’s Synops. of quad. p. 308.
+ Mem. de l’Acad. année 1756. Mem. sur. Les Musaraignes, par. M. Daubenton.
3. This assertion seems not to correspond with the following remark in p. 308. of Pennant’s Synopsis: “The water shrew mouse was long since known in England, but losot till May 1768, when it was discovered in the fens near Rivelly abbey, Lincolnshire: it burrows in the bnaks, near the water, and is called by the Fen-men, the blind mouse” [Smellie’s note. Back to page 308].