1134 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



The Blarina ate the brain, one side of the head, and part 

 of the shoulder in fifteen minutes after the death of the Mouse, 

 and immediately after the meal he weighed 12 grammes — an 

 increase of .80 gramme.'^ 



"The Shrew was half an hour in tiring the Mouse, and 

 another half-hour in killing him. But it must be remembered 

 that he was not fully grown, and was doubtless, on this account, 

 longer in capturing and killing his victim than would have been 

 the case had he been an adult. Still, it is clear that a Shrew 

 could never catch Mice on open ground. His small size, how- 

 ever, enables him readily to enter their holes and to follow them 

 to their nests and the remotest ramifications of their burrows, 

 where, having no escape, he can slay them with fearful 

 certainty." 



At Toronto on February 4, 1888, I collected an old Blarina 

 whose tail was gone, probably in battle, so that they do not 

 always go scot-free. 



The most desperate exploit accredited to one of this 

 species is recorded by Professor E. D. Cope in the American 

 Naturalist for August, 1873:"' 



"I recently [says he] placed a water snake (TropiJonotus 

 sipedon) of two feet in length in a fernery which was inhabited 

 by a Shrew, either a large Blarina carolinensis or a small 

 Blarina talpoides. The snake was vigorous when placed in the 

 case in the afternoon and bit at everything within reach. The 

 next morning the glass sides of his prison were streaked with 

 dirt and other marks, to the height of the reach of the snake, 

 bearing witness to his energetic efi^orts to escape. He was then 

 lying on the earthen floor, in an exhausted state, making a few 

 inefi^ectual efi^orts to twist his body, while the Blarina was busy 

 tearing out his masseter and temporal muscles. A large part 

 of the flesh was eaten from his tail, and the temporal and 

 masseter muscles, and eye of one side, were removed, so that 

 the under jaw hung loose. The temporal was torn loose from 

 the cranium on the other side, and as I watched him the 

 Blarina cut the other side of the mandible loose and began to 



" Loc. cit., pp. 166-8. '° Vol. VII, No. 8, pp. 4(;o-i. 



