254 CALIFORNIA MAMMALS. 



Sorex pacificus Baird. 



PACIFIC SHREW. 



Large; hind feet large; ears large. Summer pelage; uni- 

 form cinnamon rufous above and below. Winter pelage; every- 

 where darker, the hairs of the upper parts dark tipped. 



Length about 150 mm. (5.90 inches) ; tail vertebrae 63 

 (2.50): hind foot 17 (.67). 



Type locality, mouth of Umpqua River. Oregon. 



Found along the coast of Oregon and south to Point Reyes. 

 California. 



Sorex palustris navigator Baird. (Of the marsh; one 

 who navigates.) 



WATER SHREW. 



Very large for a shrew ; ears not conspicuous ; feet with a 

 wide fringe of stiff hairs; above slate black, some of the hairs 

 with a short white tip producing a slightly frosted appearance; 

 below pale brownish gray, palest on the throat and darkest on 

 the chest ; tail blackish above, dull white below except near the tip. 



Length of Sierra Nevada specimens about 160 mm. (6.30 

 inches) ; tail vertebrae 76 (3) ; hind foot 20 (.80). Female rather 

 smaller. Rocky Mountain specimens average smaller than 

 those from the Sierra Nevada. 



The type probably came from northern Idaho. 



Water Shrews are found in the Rocky Mountains, in the in- 

 terior ranges east of the Cascade Mountains from British Colum- 

 bia to L^tah, and in the Sierra Nevada, principally on the eastern 

 side. They frequent the swifter mountain streams. They are 

 strong swimmers and excellent divers, swimming under water 

 considerable distances in the pools. They evidently obtain 

 some of their food in the water, but I am unable to say what it 

 is. They enter meat-baited traps. They are not very common. 



