SORECID^ 251 



grassy places bordering small streams. A female caught July 

 22rLd, contained nine foetuses. 



Sorex obscurus Mi^rriam. (Dusky.) 



DUSKY SHREW. 



Similar to ragrans; larger; tail longer; ears smaller; molar 

 teeth larger. Summer pelage; above dull dark sepia brown; be- 

 low brownish ashy; tail dusky above, paler below. Winter 

 pelage; ash gray above; whitish below. 



Length about no mm. (4.33 inches); tail vertebrae 48 

 (1.90) ; hind foot 13 (.51). 



Type locality, Salmon River Mountains, Idaho. 



Dusky Shrews are found fromi Mount Whitney north to 

 British Columbia and east to Colorado' and Montana. They are 

 restricted to the Boreal Zone. They are generally distributed 

 through the higher Sierra Nevada, but have not been reported 

 from any other part of the State. They inhabit mountain 

 meadows and the grassy banks of streams. They often follow 

 the runs of meadow mice and traps set in these runs sometimes 

 catch Dusky Shrews. They sometimes eat the mice caught in 

 traps set in the runs, and it is proteble that they follow the runs 

 partly in pursuit of mice, and partly because these runs are good 

 hunting grounds for insects. Dusky Shrews are quite similar 

 to Wandering Shrews in color, but they are larger, with longer 

 skull and the molariform teeth are largrer. 



Sorex montereyensis Merriam. (Of Monterey.) 



MONTEREY SHREW. 



Summer pelage; above seal brown with a few long gray- 

 tipped hairs intermixed; below light sepia; tail bicolor, sepia 

 above, dull white below. Winter pelage; above slate black; be- 

 low dull plumbeous brown. 



Length about 120 mm. (4.75 inches; tail vertebrae 51 (2) ; 

 hind foot 14.5 (.57). 



