Feb., 1912. Mammals of Illinois and Wisconsin — Cory. 421 



Neosorex palustris (Richardson). 

 Marsh Shrew. Water Shrew. 



Sorex palustris Richardson, Zool. Jour., Ill, 1828, p. 517. Miller, Proc. Bost. 



Soc. Nat. Hist., XXVI, 1894, p. 183 (Minnesota). Ih., N. Amer. Fauna, No. 



ID, 1895, p. 45 (Minnesota). 

 Neosorex palustris Jackson, Bull. Wis. Nat. Hist. Soc, VI, 1908, p. 31 (Wisconsin). 



Bailey, Rept. Orn. & Mamm., U. S. Dept. Agr., 1887, p. 435 (Minnesota). 

 Sorex {Neosorex) palustris Merriam, N. Amer. Fauna, No. 10, 1895, p. 91 (Minnesota). 



Type locality — Unknown ; somewhere between Hudson Bay and 



Rocky Mountains. 

 Distribution — Ranges from Wisconsin, Minnesota and western Ontario 



to Hudson Bay, and northwest to the Great Slave Lake Region; 



replaced in the East by slightly different forms. 

 Description — General color of upper parts dusky seal-brown, almost 



black, showing a faint speckling of gray when closely examined; 



under parts ashy gray, showing a white gloss in some lights; inner 



sides of legs like belly; tail dark brown above and at the end; under 



surface of tail (except at the end) pale ; feet fringed with fine bristly 



hairs. 

 Measurements — Total length, about 6 in. (153 mm.); tail vertebrae, 



2.70 in. (68.5 mm.); hind foot, .77 in. (20 mm.). 



So far as known, the range of the Marsh Shrew within our limits 

 is confined to northern Wisconsin. There are specimens in the Field 

 Museum collection from Douglas and Vilas counties and one in the 

 Milwaukee Public Museum from Marinette County, and Jackson 

 records four specimens from the vicinity of Rhinelander, Oneida Co. 



Very little is known regarding the habits of this species. It fre- 

 quents the vicinity of water and is undoubtedly semi-aquatic, as it 

 is a good swimmer and quite at home in the water. Mr. Vernon Bailey, 

 who secured specimens at Elle River, Minnesota, says: "I have always 

 found them living in holes in creek banks; in the spring of 1886 a neigh-, 

 bor caught and gave me one that he found swimming in a small pond of 

 snow water in a hollow near his home " {I. c, p. 435). Seton states that 

 Prof. John Macoun has seen it swimming in the open waters of a moun- 

 tain brook at Crow's Nest Pass, B. C. "It darted about swiftly in the 

 current, without apparent effort, the snout and back only out."* 



Samuel Heame informs us that in the Hudson Bay Territories it 

 is frequently found in Beaver houses in winter, ''where they not- only 

 find a warm habitation, but also pick up a comfortable livelihood 

 from the scraps left by the Beaver. "f 



* Life Hist. Northern Animals, II, 1909, p. 11 15. 



t Journey, 1795, p. 386. 



