REVOIL'S ELEPHANT SHREW 

 Macrosoelides roYoilii, Huet. 



Somali name, H^a/o 



Description. — The general colour of Revoil's shrew is greyish 

 brown above and on sides, while the chin, throat, chest, belly, hands 

 and feet are white. The white palpebral patches are quite 

 distinct. Underfur is slate. Hairs of tail dark brown and white, 

 getting longer towards tip of tail, where they form a small brush. 



Measurements of a male specimen obtained by me at 

 Barkasan, at the foot of the Golis Range, 45 miles south-west of 

 Berbera, were : 



Head and body 118 mm. 



Tail 140 .. 



Hindfoot 37 » 



Distribution. — Northern Somaliland. 



Habits. — These shrews are to be often seen along the tracks in 

 the daytime, especially in stony localities. They move with lightning- 

 like rapidity and stop suddenly. They sit, stooping forwards 

 ready to spring off at a moment's notice, twitching their truncated 

 noses. They are diurnal, and their burrows are usually at the root 

 of some low-lying stunted acacia or in a heap of stones such as an 

 old Galla grave. 



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