WATER SHREW 



prising amount because of a very rapid rate of digestion. 

 Deprived of food for even a few hours they starve to death. 



In general, Sorex may be said to favor locaUties where 

 moisture and soil conditions support an abundance of vege- 

 tation. Fallen logs, rock piles, rank growths of grass, or the 

 banks of small streams where shrubbery is thick, all offer suit- 

 able home sites. Although these Shrews do not seem to make 

 burrows of their own, they frequently use those made by 

 Mice or Moles, and the surface runways of Meadow Mice serve 

 the Shrews as convenient hunting grounds. 



Shrews are active throughout the year and do not hibernate. 

 Cold has no terrors for them and they range north of the 

 Arctic Circle. 



Very little is known about the home life of Shrews. The 

 number of young is probably four or five. The young must 

 stay in the home nest until they reach nearly adult size, for one 

 never sees immature Shrews much smaller than their parents. 



Genus Neosorex^ 

 Dentition: Incisors, |; Canines, J; Premolars, f; Molars, | = 32 



Water Shrew — ^Neosorex palustris 



and related forms 



Names. — Water Shrew; Marsh Shrew; Black and White 

 Shrew. Plate III. 



General Description. — A large, long-tailed Shrew special- 

 ized for an aquatic life; feet large and broad, hind feet es- 

 pecially so, fringed with a row of short, stiff hairs; third and 

 fourth toes united at base and somewhat webbed. 



Color. — Sexes colored alike ; seasonal variation not especially 

 marked. 



Upperparts dusky, some of the hairs white-tipped to pro- 

 duce a frosted appearance ; tail sharply bicolor, blackish above, 

 white below, tip dark; feet dark on outer side, whitish on 

 inner; underparts white, sometimes darkened on breast and 

 inguinal region, sharply differentiated from color of upper- 

 parts. 



Immature very much like adults. 



^ See footnote, page 25; also Jackson: Journ. Mamm., Feb., 1926, p. 

 57. 



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