Four-footed Americans and their kin . tailed Shrew is our most common Dr. C. Hart Merriam. Mammals of Adirondacks. 394 FOUR-FOOTED AMERICANS It is a vigorous animal, not hibernating in the coldestweather, and you may almost mistake its tiny footprintson the snow for bird-tracks. It is a savage little beast,too, and a blood-thirsty fighter, being the especial enemyof the Meadow Mouse, or Vole, as some people call it. Many WiseMen whosewords we cantrust have toldof battles be-tween theseShrews onlythree and three-quarter incheslong and Mead-ow Mice fourand one - halfinches of
Four-footed Americans and their kin . tailed Shrew is our most common Dr. C. Hart Merriam. Mammals of Adirondacks. 394 FOUR-FOOTED AMERICANS It is a vigorous animal, not hibernating in the coldestweather, and you may almost mistake its tiny footprintson the snow for bird-tracks. It is a savage little beast,too, and a blood-thirsty fighter, being the especial enemyof the Meadow Mouse, or Vole, as some people call it. Many WiseMen whosewords we cantrust have toldof battles be-tween theseShrews onlythree and three-quarter incheslong and Mead-ow Mice fourand one - halfinches of thesemen, in order tosee exactly howit was done, puta Shrew and aMeadow Mouseinto a box andwatched them. Soon they were rolling about in a rough-and-tumble fight, the Shrew biting at the ears of theMouse, which he finally killed and immediately beganto eat. So when we think how mischievous the MeadowMouse is, we should be very grateful to this Shrewwith the lead-colored fur and short tail. There is another Shrew, common in the middle. Short-tailed Shrew. FROM MOLETOWN TO BATVILLE 395 West, that contests with a tiny pocket mouse the honorof being the least beast on our Mammal tree. Thisis the Least Shrew, who measures only a trifle over twoinches in length. When we think of the length of aWhale, and that both Shrew and Whale are livingMammals, belonging either on American soil or inAmerican waters, our Mammal tree seems to bear the
Size: 1399px × 1786px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjecta, booksubjectmammals
