100 Bailey Mammals of the District of Columbia. 



5 miles northeast of the Capitol, but even in this semi-boreal swamp they 

 seem to be scarce and are difficult to secure. Thorough and unsuccessful 

 trapping for them in various localities about Washington proves to my 

 own satisfaction that they do not inhabit the uplands. 



Blarina brevicauda. Next to the meadow mouse, the Short-tailed 

 Shrews are probably the most abundant mammals in the District of Co 

 lumbia. They may be found anywhere in woods and brush and old fields 

 and along creek banks and ditches. Under the cover of fallen leaves and 

 grass and in burrows and covered runways they work their way safely 

 into the very edges of the city. I have taken at least a hundred from 

 traps set for more desirable species along the east side of Rock Creek near 

 the Connecticut Avenue bridge and on the west side near the Massachu 

 setts Avenue bridge, besides others along Piney Branch, Broad Branch, 

 above Georgetown on the west side of the Potomac, and on the east side 

 of Anacostia River near the mouth of Beaver Dam Branch and near 

 Bladensburg. Other mammal collectors have had the same experience 

 of catching more of these shrews than were wanted. 



Blarina parva. The Little Short-tailed Shrew is common at Sandy 

 Springs, Maryland, from which point Dr. Merriam has a large series of 

 specimens, but there is not to my knowledge any record of specimens 

 that have been taken nearer Washington. My own traps have not been 

 set in the right kind of localities for this shrew, and probably for the 

 same reason other trappers have not caught it. No doubt it will yet be 

 found common within the limits of the District. Dr. Fisher took 21 

 skulls from pellets- of barn owls found in the Smithsonian tower. 



Scalops aquaticus. Moles are common about Washington, "and some 

 times their ridges are seen on unpaved ground in the city. The only 

 visible sign of their presence is a little ridge pushed up along the surface 

 of the ground and often extended in an interminable network. These 

 ridges, however, are not always a sure sign of the presence of moles, for 

 the pine mouse either makes similar ridges or occupies those abandoned 

 by the moles, but enough moles have been caught in the near vicinity of 

 the city to establish the fact that they are common. Morris M. Green 

 caught them along Rock Creek and the Potomac ; E. A. Preble caught 

 one at Arlington ; G. S. Miller, Jr., secured one at Forest Glen, Md., and 

 Dr. Mearns tells me that half a dozen specimens have been brought to 

 him at Fort Myer, Va. 



Condylura cristata. Star-nosed Moles are either very rare or else 

 their peculiar underground mode of life keeps them well out of the hands 

 of collectors. The only record for the District of which I am aware is 

 that of a family of five young found by Morris M. Green in a nest under 

 an old log on the flats between the canal and river about a mile above 

 Georgetown. As the animal has a general boreal range, it might be ex 

 pected to occur in the vicinity of cold swamps. I have no doubt that 

 thorough trapping may prove them to be common in certain localities. 



Vesperugo georgianus. Morris M. Green, Dr. Fisher, and Dr. Mer 

 riam agree that this is the commonest bat in and around Washington. 



