193G] 



MAMMALS OF OREGON 



357 



Food habits. The stomachs of these water shrews generally con- 

 tain finely chewed remains of insects and other forms of small animal 

 life, but in many examined in the field no trace of fish scales or 

 bones could be detected. They often contain bits of fresh meat or 

 bacon used as trap bait and many are caught in mousetraps baited 

 with rolled oats. This may have been in part accidental or in 

 pursuit of insects or slugs attracted by the bait, for there seems to 

 be no record of any oatmeal found in their stomachs. Occasionally 

 a meadow mouse in a trap at the water's edge is found half eaten 

 by one of these large shrews. 



They have been accused of eating salmon eggs and small fish, but 

 apparently none of these charges has been proved by actual exam- 

 ination of stomach contents. 



SOREX BENDIRII BENDIRII (MEBBIAM) 



BENDIRE'S SHREW 

 Atophyrax bendirii Merriam, Linn. Soc. N. Y. Trans. 2: 217, 1884. 



Type. Collected at Williamson River, 18 miles southeast of Fort Klaraatli, 

 Oreg., August 1, 1882, by Charles E. Bendire. 



General characters. Size large, tail long, feet large and but slightly fringed 

 or bristle-margined; nose long and pointed; eyes minute; ears ma.inly con- 

 cealed in fur; fur dense and velvety over whole of body; feet and tail thinly 

 haired. Blackish or sooty brown all over, slightly paler below, summer pelage 

 more brownish ; feet grayish brown ; tail brownish black all around. 



Measurements. Adult male from Fort Klamath : Total length, 155 mm ; tail, 

 71; foot, 20. One taken at Puyallup by Scheffer weighed 12 g. 



Distribution and habitat. The Klamath section of Oregon, a nar- 

 row strip of the coast of western California, and the Cascade section 

 of Washington and southwestern British Columbia (fig. 85) . There 

 are specimens in the Bio- 

 logical Survey collection 

 from Williamson River, 

 Fort Klamath, and Pros- 

 pect, and two in the Ga- 

 brielson collection from 

 Rustler Peak and Camp 

 76, on the Crater National 

 Forest north and west 

 of Mount McLoughlin. 

 All of the localities are in 

 Transition Zone. 



These large dark shrews 

 are probably no better 

 adapted to aquatic life 

 than are most other 

 shrews, although all seem 

 to be good swimmers and 

 not afraid of the water. They are generally found in low, moist, or 

 muddy places where they live under old logs or such cover as is 

 available, often in the shade of deep forests but also along the edges 

 of low, open ground. They are mud shrews rather than water shrews 

 and probably find an abundance of food in the black ooze of moist 

 ground. 



Of their actual habits nothing is known beyond what is shown by 

 the specimens secured by collectors from small traps set in suitable 



FIGURE 85. Range of Bendire's and Palmer's shrews 

 in Oregon: 1, Sorex bendirii bendirii; 2, 8. b. 

 palmeri. Type localities circled. 



