Our British porcupine, the innocuous _Hedgehog_,
has long been the object of unceasing persecution, from the popular belief
that it bites and sucks the udders of cows, an absurdity sufficiently
contradicted by the smallness of its mouth. In like manner, the
_Goat-sucker_ is a persecuted bird, since, as its name implies, it has been
thought to suck the teats of goats and other animals; whereas the form of
its bill entirely precludes such an act, and it is an inoffensive bird,
living upon insects. The superstition has probably originated from its
being often found in warm climates under cattle, capturing the insects
that torment them. It is supposed, in some places, that the _Shrew-mouse_
is of so baneful and deleterious a nature that whenever it creeps over a
beast, cow, sheep, or horse (in particular), the animal is afflicted with
cruel anguish, and threatened with a loss of the use of its limb.
A shrew-ash was the remedy for this misfortune, viz. an ash whose twigs or
branches gently applied to the affected members relieved the pain: our
provident forefathers, anticipating such an accident to their cattle,
always kept a shrew-ash at hand, which, once medicated, retained its
virtue for ever: it was thus prepared: into the body of an ash a deep hole
was bored with an auger, and a poor devoted shrew-mouse being thrust into
it, the orifice was plugged up, probably with quaint incantations now
forgotten.
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