Shearmoose, sharemoose
- shrew Sorex araneus. The name shearmoose is similar in sense to the English name 'harvest shrew' because it is disturbed when cereal crops are cut or sheared. The shrew has quite a few other names in Scots. Some, like nebbit moose [mouse with the nose] or rone-moose [mottled or reddish mouse - its back can vary from black to reddish-brown] refer to its appearance. Others, like skrow or strow, reflect regional pronunciations. The name thraw-moose derives from the superstition that if a shrew ran over your foot, it could paralyse or deform it. [Thraw means to twist or deform.] The smallest mammal in Scotland is the pygmy shrew, Sorex minutus, at only 5 grams in weight.