SMALLER MAMMALS OF NORTH AMERICA 



595 



/ 



be of little use except to 

 distinguish between light 

 and dark, but their senses 

 of hearing and smell are 

 highly developed, as is 

 also the sense of touch 

 in their long hairs, or 

 "whiskers," about the 

 nose. In captivity an ex- 

 treme sensitiveness is ex- 

 hibited to sudden sounds, 

 especially such as those 

 of a bird's wings, indicat- 

 ing an instinctive fear 

 born of age-long perse- 

 cution by birds of prey. 

 Food is located by smell, 

 and as the flexible end 

 of the snout is moved 

 continually from side to 

 side, odors are caught 

 which may register con- 

 ceptions as definite in the 

 minds of these small ani- 

 mals as sight does in 

 more favored beasts. All 

 shrews are provided with 

 musk glands and on ac- 

 count of these are ap- 

 parently nauseous to most 

 other animals, as they 

 are rarely eaten by beasts 

 of prey. These musky 

 secretions must be of 

 great service to facilitate 

 them in locating one an- 

 other. 



Like other shrews and 

 the moles, their digestion 

 appears to be very rapid 

 and they will eat -two or 

 three times their own 

 weight in a day. This 

 necessitates great activity 

 on their part during much 

 of the time in order to 

 find the required food. 

 They prefer insects and 

 meat, but are practically 

 omnivorous, feeding not 

 only upon many kinds of 

 insects, but on earth- 

 worms, slow-worms, sow- 

 bugs, snails, slugs, mice, 

 shrews, and the young of 



ground-nesting birds, as well as such vegetable 

 food as beechnuts, seeds, bread, and oatmeal. 



The instinct of prevision against the season 

 of winter scarcity appears to be developed in 

 them, as one in captivity buried beechnuts in 

 the earth, and they are known to store living 

 snails ip small piles and to gather disabled 

 beetles in store-rooms in their tunnels. 



Jhe courage and blind ferocity of the short- 

 tailed shrews when they are placed near cap- 

 tive mice far larger than themselves, is amaz- 

 ing to all who witness their encounters. They 

 attack instantly, spreading their front feet to 



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C7S. 



Tilt SHORT-TAILED SHREW, OR BLARINA 



The curious grooved track in the snow with the tail mark is seen 

 on the left (see pages 566 and 593) 



gain a firmer footing and moving forward in 

 little rushes. Mice larger and much more 

 powerful than the shrew are persistently at- 

 tacked and, finally giving out, are pounced upon 

 and the flesh torn from their heads and necks 

 with ravening eagerness. One day a passing 

 observer heard a loud squealing on a railroad 

 bank where an examination revealed a short- 

 tailed shrew dragging away a nearly dead pine 

 mouse, though the mouse was much the heavier. 

 The notes of shrews are a fine tremulous squeak 

 which becomes a longer, harsher, and more 

 twittering or chattering cry when they are angry. 



