1919} Our Rats^ Mice and Shrews 59 



Of the mole shrews we get two species, the Carolina mole shrew, 

 which is about 3 3/4 inches long, the tail only 3/4 inch, and the little 

 mole shrew, which is barely 3 inches long, with the tail 5/8 inch. 

 The latter is usually somewhat paler than the Carolina shrew, but 

 is not always easy to distinguish except by dental characters. Both 

 species are found in fields and the Carolina shrew also in woods, and 

 both can be caught in traps baited with peanuts, which I find to be 

 practically the only bait worth using for field mice and shrews, al- 

 though the heads of birds and mice can be used to trap shrews and 

 most species of mice. 



A few words about trapping small mammals. I find that the best 

 traps to use so far as catching specimens is concerned are the ordinary 

 wooden choker mouse traps, cut in half and set in the runways ; the 

 guillotine traps are also good, but shrews and mice seem to have a 

 preference for seeking their food in a hole, thus I have caught cotton- 

 rats in choker traps when their heads were wedged so tight in the 

 hole that it was hard to get them out. 



The best season for trapping mice and shrews so far as the number 

 caught is concerned is from about mid-jSTovember to Christmas, but 

 those caught later on are in more adult condition and better pelage. 

 As soon as vegetation begins to grow rapidly in the spring the num- 

 ber caught rapidly diminishes, and by early April trapping is about 

 done for. 



