360 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 
or in part to our lack of skill in former days in trapping it successfully ” 
(96, p. 194). Mearns: “Two specimens were trapped, the first . . . in 
a balsam swamp at 3700 feet altitude and thesecond . . . on the actua! 
summit of Hunter mountain” (’98b, p. 355). 
I have found the masked shrew common at Peterboro, Madison co. 
and Elizabethtown, Essex co. In both localities it is generally dis- 
tributed. : 
Mr Savage writes: “ Sorex personatus is abundant in the low flat land 
known as the ‘Tifft farm’ near Buffalo. Here I have frequently heard 
them squeaking all around me.” | 
Of the masked shrew Mr Helme writes: ‘This diminutive mammal 
is not rare in most parts of Long Island. It builds a small spherical 
nest of dry leaves in some cavity under a log or old stump. I once 
found six specimens under an old log in a nest of leaves and bits of dry 
seaweed.” 
~Sorex-hoyi Baird /oy’s shrew 
1858 Sorex hoyi Baird, Mamm. N. Am. p. 32. 
1895 Sorex hoyi Merriam, North American fauna. no. 10. 31 Dec. 
TOOG. | P.O: 
Type locality. Racine, Wisconsin. 
Faunal position. Hoy’s shrew is probably an inhabitant of the transi- 
tion and boreal zones. Its faunal position is not well understood. 
Habitat This animal is so little known that its habitat.cannot be 
definitely stated. Apparently it is more often found in cleared land 
than in woods or forests (see Miller, 97b, p. 37). : 
Distribution in New York. While this species probably occurs 
throughout the northern half of the state it has as yet been taken 
at Locust Grove, Lewis co. only (Merriam, ’95, p. 90). _ 
Blarina brevicauda (Say)  Short-tailed shrew 
1823 Sorex brevicaudus Say, Long’s exped. to the Rocky mts. 
1837 Sorex dekayi Bachman, Acad. nat. sci. Philadelphia. Jour. pt. 2. 
7: 377: 
1842 Sorex dekayi De Kay, Zoology of New York, Mammalia p. 17 
(part). 
1842 Sorex brevicaudus De Kay, Zoology of New York, Mammalia. 
p- 18 (part). 
1842 Sorex carolinensis De Kay, Zoology of New York, Mammalia. 
p- 21 (part). 
