366 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 



[No. 55 



range 

 While foum 



cold mountain streams down into Transition Zone, 

 all through the forests they are also taken in open brushy 



or grassy places wherever 

 there is plenty of moisture 

 and vegetation, especially 

 along the margins of 

 watercourses. 



G-eneral habits. In no 

 known way do the habits 

 of this little gray shrew 

 differ from those of typi- 

 cal vagrans except as modi- 

 fied by a more open and 

 elevated range and a 

 change of cover and food 

 species of insects and other 

 small animal life. The 

 breeding habits are ap- 



FIGURE 89. Range in Oregon of: 1, Sorex vagrans ,1 i ,-, 



vagram; 2, 8. v. monticola; 3, 8. v. amoenus. parently mUCIl the Same. 



SOREX VAGRANS AMOENUS MEBBIAM 



SIERRA SHREW 

 Sorex amoenus Merriam, North. Amer. Fauna No. 10, p. 69, 1895. 



Type. Collected near Mammoth, altitude 8,000 feet, near head of Owens 

 River, Mono County, Calif., July 22, 1891, by E. W. Nelson. 



General characters. Much like vagrans, but tail shorter, and color darker. 

 In summer pelage, upper parts dark grayish brown, lower parts smoky gray; 

 feet and lower surface of tail buffy gray; top of tail dark brown, becoming 

 dusky at tip. Winter pelage, back sooty gray; sides grayish brown, lower 

 parts smoky gray. 



Measurements. Of type specimen, male adult : Total length, 103 mm ; tail, 

 38 ; foot, 12. Of adult female topotype : 103 ; 36 ; 12.5. 



Distribution and habitat. Klamath and Warner Mountain country 

 of south-central Oregon south in the mountains to Owens Eiver, 

 Calif., and reappearing in the Euby Mountains of Nevada (fig. 89). 

 Found in mainly Transition and Canadian Zones, under logs or rocks 

 or banks in moist situations, often along the margins of cold moun- 

 tain streams or springs of cold water where local condition^ of plant 

 and animal life are .similar to that of higher levels. 



General habits. So far as observed similar to those of the Rocky 

 Mountain form, monticola, with which they agree more nearly in 

 habitat than with typical vagrans, of the humid region. 



One female, collected by E. W. Nelson at 8,000 feet in the Sierra 

 Nevadas on July 22, 1891, contained 9 embryos. 



SOREX ORNATUS TRIGONIROSTRIS JACKSON 



SISKIYOU SHREW 

 Sorex trigonirostris Jackson, Wash. Acad. Sci. Jour. 12 : 264, 1922. 



Type. Collected at Ashland, Oreg., May 5, 1914, by Luther J. Goldman. 



General characters. Size small, tail relatively short, similar to Sorex 

 ornatus californicus in appearance but distinguished by broader skull and 

 shorter rostrum, giving a more triangular outline, especially to the front part 

 of the skull. Color: In summer pelage grayish brown; lower parts smoky 

 gray; feet buffy gray; tail buffy white below, grayish brown above. 



