ABSTRACT
PLiny doth oftentimes make mention of this Wood-moufe , or rather a Moufe belonging to The defcripn-the W o o d , but he doth it only in medicines; but that it doth differ from this Countrey or on, Field-moufe we have have fhewen in the chapter going before, becaufe it doth not inhabit or dwell in the Countries or tilled places, as the Countrey or Field-mice do, but doth inhabit in Woods andForrefts. The Wood-moufe is called in Grrek^ as the Countrey-moufe ; but I think it to be a kinde of Dormoufe, which proceedeth from the kinde of Wood-moufe. Fliny truly doth make the fame remedy or medicines of aDormoufe, as he doth of a Wood-moufe, as I will a little after rehearfe or recite unto you. Alfo I fhould have thought that a Sorex had been the fame, becaufe it is a Wood-moufe, but that,that one place of Puny did hinder me,where he cornmendeth the afhes of a Wood-moufe to be very good for the clearnefs of the eyes, and by and by after did fhew or declare that the afhes of the Sorex were good alfo in the fame ufe, as I will recite or rehearfe below in the medicines or remedies ofthe Wood-moufe. Agricola% a man of great learning,doth interpret or judge the Wood-moufe to be that Moufe, to the which they do appoint the name derived from Avellana : but he doth account that to be the Sorex, which I will fhew or declare beneath to be the Shrew. I do underftand that there are properly two kindes of the Wood-moufe fpoken of before. The one of them that which Albertus doth write, faying that there is a certain kinde of Moufe which doth build or make her habitation in trees, and of a brown or fwart colour, and having alfo black fpots in her face, which only is called by the univerfal name of a Wood-moufe O f the fame kinde Fliny doth mean, (if I be not deceived) when he writeth , that the maft of a Beech-tree is very acceptable to Mice, and therefore they have good fuccefs with their young ones. The other which is peculiarly named the Sorex, which (faith Fliny) doth fleep all the Winter time, and hatha tail full of hair: whofe fhape or form we propofe and fet evidently before you. But that I may more diftindly handle thofe things which Pliny hath fhewed to us concerning the Wood-moufe; I will write her down fepatately, or by it felf, and afterwards concerning the Moufe which hath her name derived from Fil-birds, which the Germans have left in writing, and which I my felf have confidered or obferved and laft of all I will write concerning the Sorex peculiarly and feverally from the A n - cient Writers.
