1118 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



Life-history. 



The map, No. 6i, shows the range of the species to be in 

 the forested part of the moist temperate region of eastern 

 North America. 



It was originally discovered by the naturalist Say, at 

 Engineer Cantonment, near the present town of Blair, Neb., 

 in the winter of 1819. Since then it has been observed in 

 all the region from western Nebraska and Manitoba, eastward 

 to the Atlantic coast. 



I found this Shrew abundant about Rat Portage (now 

 Kenora) in the fall of 1886, and also captured specimens at 

 Lower Fort Garry and Winnipeg, but I did not find it in the 

 prairie region about Carberry. Dr. Merriam has recorded' 

 specimens from Pembina and many points in North Dakota 

 and Minnesota, so that it may be looked for with certainty 

 throughout the wooded parts of southern Manitoba. 



ENVIRON- All the eyeless bug-hunters that form the present group of 

 Insectivora are creatures that prey where eyes are of little use, 

 which means under brush, moss, or ground. If we set them in 

 a scale of subterraneousness, a scale corresponding with their 

 degree of eyelessness, we shall put: 



1st. The Long-tailed Shrew, that prowls in labyrinth and 

 thicket, but rarely digs. 



2nd. The Blarina, that hunts still lower, a threader of 

 mouse-tunnels, and a digger in moss, fallen leaves, and loamy 

 soil, like an inexperienced Mole. 



3rd. The Star-nosed Mole that digs in moss, softer mould, 

 and occasionally in mud. 



4th. The true Mole that never ceases to work for a living 

 by tunnelling in the ground, be it never so hard. 



The favourite localities of the Blarina are woodlands, 

 under log-piles, and among tangles of brush and sedgy grass, 



' N. A. Fauna, No. lo, 1805, p. 13. 



MENT 



