110 



The shrew used in the October test was only partially 

 grown, weighing but 13 grams, whereas the weight of a full- 

 grown specimen will sometimes exceed 20 grams. On the 23rd 

 day of this month the shrew ate a quantity of white-grubs equal 

 to nearly three times its own weight. This was evidently an 

 over-feed, as during the two succeeding days it acted stupid and 

 reduced 'its food to about one-fifth the quantity eaten on the 

 23rd. On the 26th it appeared to be regaining its normal health 

 and ate more freely. The daily average of food taken was a 

 little over 19 grams, a quantity equal to about one and a half 

 times its own weight. 



Mice. It has been conclusively demonstrated by Shull that 

 shrews under natural conditions will kill and devour mice. Their 

 ability to overcome full-grown white-footed mice has been ques- 

 tioned, and, since meadow mice are considerably larger and 

 more powerful than the white-footed kind, it would seem that 

 they, too, would be more than a match for the shrews. I have 

 made but few field observations along this line, further than 

 to notice that shrews will devour dead mice which they find in 

 traps. On several occasions I have confined full-grown shrews 

 and white-footed mice together in a cage, and always the shrews 

 have killed the mice, but sometimes they have succeeded in doing 

 so only after a prolonged and bloody fight. I have never matched 

 a full-grown shrew against a full-grown meadow mouse, though 

 I have seen a shrew kill and devour a meadow mouse consid- 

 erably larger than itself, 



I recently placed a shrew, about two-thirds grown, in a box 

 with a mature and very large meadow mouse. They lived 

 together for about a week before they were separated, but the 

 relationship between the two seemed at all times to be decidedly 

 strained. Each seemed to fear the other, although the mouse 

 was at least four times the size of the shrew. I fed the two a 

 great many grasshoppers, of which both were very fond. The 

 one that got hold of a grasshopper first would keep it without 

 personal violence being resorted to by the other for its pos- 

 session. When the mouse was eating food that the shrew desired, 

 the latter would often take a position near at hand, usually at 



