hen, with
a short swift spring, it would pounce upon its prey.

A correspondent of _The Asian_, writing from Ceylon, gives an account
of a musk-rat attacking a large frog, and holding on to it in spite
of interference.

McMaster says that these shrews will also eat bread, and adds:
"insects, however, form their chief diet, so they thus do us more
good than harm. I once disturbed one that evidently had been eating
part of a large scorpion."

NO. 126. SOREX MURINUS.
_The Mouse-coloured Shrew_ (_Jerdon's No. 70_).

HABITAT.--India generally, Burmah and Ceylon.

DESCRIPTION.--Brownish-grey above, paler beneath; fur coarser and
longer than in the last species, and in the young ones the colour
is more of a bluish-grey, browner on the back. The ears are larger
than those of _S. caerulescens_; tail nearly equal to the body, thick
at the base, and sparsely covered with long coarse hairs; feet and
tail flesh-coloured in the living animal.

SIZE.--Head and body about 6 inches; tail, 3-1/2 inches.

"This," as Jerdon says, "is the common musk-rat of China, Burmah,
and the Malayan countries, extending into Lower Bengal and Southern
India, especially the Malabar Coast, where it is said to be the common
species, the bite of which is considered venomous by the natives."
Kellaart mentions it in Ceylon as the "common _musk shrew_ or rat
of Europeans;" but he confuses it with the last species. He gives
the Singhalese name as "_koone meeyo_." The musky odour of this
species is less powerful, and is almost absent in the young. Blyth
states that he was never able to obtain a specimen of it in Lower
Bengal, yet the natives here discriminate between the light and
dark-coloured shrews, and hold, with the people of Malabar, that the
bite of the latter is venomous. Horsfield states that it has been
found in Upper India, Nepal, and Assam, and he gives the vernacular
name in the last-named country as "_seeka_."

NO. 127. SOREX NEMORIVAGUS.
_The Nepal Wood Shrew_ (_Jerdon's No. 71_).

HABITAT.--Nepal.

DESCRIPTION.--Differs from the last "by a stouter make, by ears
smaller and legs entirely nude, and by a longer and more tetragonal
tail; colour sooty black, with a vague reddish smear; the nude parts
fleshy grey; snout to rump, 3-5/8 inches; tail, 2 inches, planta,
11/16 inch. Found only in woods and coppices."--_Hodgson_.

NO. 128. SOREX SERPENTARIUS.
_The Rufescent Shrew_ (_Jerdon's No. 72_).

HABITAT.--Southern India, Burmah