200 ANIMAL COMPETITORS 



by their long, flexible, trunk-like noses, be- 

 whiskered noses, minute eyes and ears, and 

 red-pointed teeth, which, of course, are not in 

 the least like those of a mouse. As I have 

 written elsewhere : 



"All the shrews are ceaselessly active, wandering 

 about underneath leaves, old grass, and logs, and bor- 

 ing their way into loose loam or the punky wood of 

 decayed stumps, in search of earthworms, grubs, 

 beetles, slugs, and similar prey, including young mice 

 and the fledglings of ground-nesting birds, and vary- 

 ing this fare by bites from soft-shelled beechnuts, 

 tuberous roots, etc. They are astonishingly quick of 

 hearing; are bold, pugnacious, and fierce, often kill- 

 ing and eating other shrews; difficult to keep alive 

 in captivity, utterly untamable, and easily frightened 

 to death. All kinds exhale from glands near their 

 armpits a musky odor which no doubt is protective, 

 since most hawks, cats, foxes, etc., do not eat them 

 unless excessively hungry; but owls and weasels ap- 

 pear to be well pleased with such flavors, and catch 

 and devour them in large numbers." 



We have a large number of shrews, some of 

 which are aquatic, and the variety of color and 

 size is considerable. Cuba and Hayti each 

 also possesses a large sort of insectivore, called 

 almiqui and looking like a shrew as big as a rat. 



