SHREW FAMILY 



309 



Shrews. In winter the Common Shrew may be 

 seen poking its snout into the httle openings in 

 the bark on the lower parts of tree-trunks, and 

 ferreting about in the leaf mold or among 

 pieces of decayed wood for its daily bread. 

 It is supposed that the species mates without 

 much regard to seasons, but on this point little is 

 known definitely. 



The ears of the Shrew are more evident 

 than those of the Mole. The toes are furnished 

 with claws, usually five on each foot. Shrews, 

 however, never walk on their toes, but plant 

 the greater part of the sole on the ground. Many 

 of the species have glands, usually on the sides 

 of the body, which emit a noxious odor when 

 the animal is frightened or enraged, serving to 

 protect it from many, but not all, of its forest 

 enemies. Weasels, owls of all kinds, and some 

 hawks kill and eat Shrews ; but the mink, fox, 

 most of the hawks and domestic cats, though 

 they frequently kill them, only feed on them 

 when forced by hunger to do so. 



The Shrew's fur, like that of the Mole, is soft 

 and silky, and all of the American species have 

 their summer and winter coats. The summer 

 pelage is usually sepia brown or chestnut ; the 

 winter one, dusky or ash-gray or lead-colored. 



Shrews, so far as known, do not hibernate, nor 

 do they seem to lay by provision for the winter, 

 so that they are necessarily compelled to hunt 

 unceasingly for their food in all kinds of weather 

 and at all seasons of the year. 



Considering its size, the Shrew may be con- 

 sidered one of the most pugnacious of all ani- 

 mals. Mr. Fred E. Brooks says: "I recently 

 placed a Shrew, about two-thirds grown, in a 

 box with a mature and very large Meadow 

 Mouse. They lived together for about a week 

 before they were separated, but the relationship 

 between the two seemed at all times to be de- 

 cidedly strained. Each seemed to fear the other, 

 although the Mouse was at least four times the 

 size of the Shrew. I fed the two a great many 

 grasshoppers, of which both were very fond. 

 The one that got hold of a grasshopper first 

 would keep it without personal violence being 

 resorted to by the other for its possession. \\'hen 



the Mouse was eating food that the Shrew de- 

 sired, the latter would often take a position 

 near at hand, usually at the mouth of one of its 

 burrows in the moss with which the box was 

 partly filled, and indulge in a peculiar and rather 

 amusing performance. A\'ith its mouth wide 

 open and its snout and lips drawn back so as 

 to expose its ' sharp teeth, it would throw its 

 head rapidly from side to side and give forth a 

 peculiar, song-like chatter consisting of a series 

 of rapidly repeated chirps, pitched on a high 

 key, and varied every few seconds with a long- 

 drawn, rasping note on a lower key. While thus 

 engaged it would assume a perfectly fiendish 

 look and express in the most realistic manner all 

 the anger and envy and hate that was in its little 

 heart." 



House Mice, White-footed Mice and Meadow 

 Mice, when confined in a cage with Shrews, will 

 often manifest the most abject terror, and will 

 jump and rush about as though panic-stricken 

 until exhausted. The evident hate and fear with 

 which they regard the Shrews indicate that they 

 recognize in them a natural and puissant enemy 

 which for reasons of persona! safety they must 

 avoid. 



The Pygmy Slircics deserve especial notice as 

 they occupy a group by themselves, which con- 

 tains three species. The smallest of these, and 

 in fact the smallest of all our mammals, is Hoy's 

 Shrew. This diminutive creature has a total 

 length of only a little over three inches, the tail 

 measuring one-third of this ; so the little body 

 is about two inches long. The pelage is chest- 

 nut-brown with a little hoariness in the upper 

 parts ; the under parts dull rusty white. Its 

 range is a wide one. extending from British 

 Columbia to Labrador. 



Practically nothing is known of the habits of 

 this little animal. Air. G. S. Miller, Jr., says: 

 " Hoy's Shrew avoids bogs and heavy woods. 

 At North Bay I invariably found it in dry clear- 

 ings and gardens. The one taken at Peninsula 

 Harbor was found by a dog under the rotting 

 trunk of a small tree in an open upland prairie. 

 A female taken at North Bay had only four 

 mammae." 



