October 9, 191i] 



SCIENCE 



527 



If left without food for a few hours he will eat 

 corn from the cob, begiuniiig at the outside of the 

 kernel, but it is very clear that he does not relish 

 his fare. He will also eat Indian meal and oats 

 when other food is not at hand. Slugs and earth- 

 worms he devours with avidity, always starting at 

 one end, and manipulating them with his fore 

 paws. But of the various kinds of food placed 

 before him, he shows an unmistakable preference 

 for mice — either dead or alive. 



Ehoads* writes: 



It is known that they (Blarina breviccmda) 

 subsist to some extent on vegetable food, chiefly 

 nuts, but they do only indirect damage to agricul- 

 ture by disturbing the roots of plants. 



He also states that they eat " salamanders, 

 other batrachians, and reptiles which haunt 

 their burrows." 



ShulP found that this shrew eats house 

 mice. May beetles (Lachnosterna) and their 

 grubs, moth larvse, other insects and pupse, 

 earthworms, snails of the genus Polygyra, 

 sow-bugs and heef. " Carrots, crackers, roots 

 of grasses and other plants," he says, were 

 never touched as food. 



Stone and Cram" relate the following ob- 

 servation : 



One that I caught in a trap had already, when 

 I found it, disposed of the raw meat which had 

 served as bait, and when confined in a cage im- 

 mediately seized upon whatever meat was offered 

 it, whether raw or cooked, without discriminating 

 between kinds. Beef, pork and cold chicken — all 

 went the same way, while the fury of his appetite 

 was being appeased. 



They also write: 



I believe that they get the greater part of their 

 food at this season (winter) by burrowing about 

 among the dead leaves beneath the snow in the 

 forests, gathering the dormant insects that habitu- 

 ally pass the winter in such places. 



Seton^ states that the diet of the short- 



4 Ehoads, ' ' The Mammals of Pennsylvania and 

 New Jersey," 1903. 



5 Shull, ' ' Habits of the Short-tailed Shrew, 

 Blarina Brevioauda Say," American Naturalist. 

 Vol. XLL, No. 488, pp. 496-522, August, 1907. 



6 Stone and Cram, "American Animals," 1905. 

 T Seton, ' ' Life Histories of Northern Animals, ' ' 



1909. 



tailed shrew is chiefly insects and worms, but 

 that it will eat " any kind of living food it can 

 find and master, preying largely, ... on field 

 mice, which equal or exceed it in weight." 

 He believes dormant insects form a large part 

 of its sustenance in winter. He gives the 

 following list of stomach contents findings 

 from short-tailed shrews, taken at Cos Cob, 

 Connecticut : 



No. 1. Earthworms, almost whole; membranous 

 wings of beetle. 



No. 2. Connective tissue, cartilage and muscle. 



No. 3. Earthworm setffi, parts of insects; some 

 of its own hair, probably swallowed with food. 



No. 4. Earthworms. 



No. 5. Earthworm setse. 



No. 6. Insects. 



No. 7. Insects. 



No. 8. Legs of Isopod. 



No. 9. Muscles and setse of earthworms. 



No. 10. Earthworms. 



No. 11. Earthworms and insects. 



No. 12. Isopod legs and insects. 



No. 13. Earthworms, insects, connective tissue 

 and striated muscle, probably of some small rodent. 



Shull reports the findings of two stomach 

 contents as follows : 



1. An insect larva. 



2. Meadow vole. 



In speaking of the short-tailed shrew, Corey' 

 quotes Dr. John T. Plummer^ as follows: 



It was given flesh of all kinds, fish, coleopterous 

 as well as other insects, corn, oats and other kinds 

 of grain, all of which appeared to be acceptable 

 food. ' ' The corcle of the grains of maize was al- 

 ways eaten out, as it is by rats and mice. ' ' When 

 water was put into the box the shrew "wet his 

 tongue two or three times and went away; but 

 when worms were dropped into the cup, he re- 

 turned, waded about in the water, snatched up his 

 victim, maimed it, stored it away, and returned 

 repeatedly for more till all were secured. ' ' A full- 

 grown living mouse was put into the box, which 

 was at once fiercely pursued by the shrew, attacked 

 and killed. Another mouse met with the same fate. 



This habit of attacking mice is well known 

 among those who have studied into the matter. 

 Merriam and Morden have vividly described 



8 Corey, ' ' The Mammals of Illinois and Wiscon- 

 sin," Publication 153, Zool. Ser., Vol. VI., Field 

 Museum of Natural History, Chicago, HI., 1912. 



9 Am. J(mr. of Sci., Vol. XLVL, 1884. 



A 



