OUE EATS, MICE AND SHREWS 



By C. S. Brimley 



Rats and mice, both native and introduced, are the most numerous 

 as the most destructive of our mammals, and as shrews are always 

 caught to a greater or less extent when trapping for field mice, I have 

 also added what little information I had about them. 



Rats and mice belong to the family Muridse, and there are no 

 other mammals in this region liable to be confused with them, except 

 the jumping mouse, which, although mouse-like in general appear- 

 ance, belongs to the Jerboida?, and is also included in this paper. 



Shrews belong to the Insectivora, family Soricidse, and are char- 

 acterized by small size, normal limbs, pointed snouts, and an un- 

 broken tooth row, differing markedly in this last respect from rats 

 (and all other rodents) in which there is a wide gap between the in- 

 cisors and the molars. 



The species we get at Raleigh are (1) Introduced Forms: Wharf 

 or Brown Rat, Roof Rat, House Mouse. (2) Native Rats and Mice: 

 WTiite-footed Mouse, Red or Golden Mouse, Ricefield Rat, Harvest 

 Mouse, Cotton Rat, Meadow Mouse, Pine Mouse, Jumping Mouse. 

 (3) Shrews: Southern Shrew, Carolina Mole Shrew, Little Mole 

 Shrew. This make a total of eleven rats and mice and three shrews. 

 One more mouse occurs in the eastern part of the State, and about 

 three more mice and an equal number of shrews in the mountains. 



In size the Wharf and Roof Rats class as large rats, the Cotton and 

 Ricefield Rats and the Meadow Mouse as medium sized or rather 

 small rats, the other mice and the shrews do not exceed the size of 

 average or small mice. 



In color the three introduced species, the Ricefield Rat and the 

 Harvest Mouse might be said roughly speaking to be mouse colored, 

 the Whitefooted, Red, and Jumping Mice are yellowish brown or 

 tawny, the Meadow Mouse dark brown and the Pine Mouse, chestnut 

 brown. The shrews incline to ashcolored or plumbeous, dark or 

 light, though some of the longtailcd forms arc more or less chestnut 



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