WIDE EANGE OF THE SHEEW FAMILY. 



33 



The whole shape and organization of these little creatures show that 

 they live in burrows. The proboscis-like nose — cartilaginous, tough, and 

 flexible — is fit for probing without injury into all sorts of crannies, and 

 for forcing a way through leaves, tangled grass, and loose soil. The feet, 

 nevertheless, though compact and strong, are not modified into such a 



viiii 



mm 



BLABINA — THE SHOBT-TAILED SHREW. 



combination of pick and shovel as the moles carry, but are mouse-like. 

 The shrew's theory of life is based upon great humility, and it is only by 

 accident that one is ever seen alive; "restricted to a little world of their 

 own, best suited to their habits and enjoyment, they almost present a bar- 

 rier to the prying curiosity of man." 



Yet they frequent all sorts of country, and readily adapt themselves 

 to widely varying conditions, since their food is universally distributed ; 

 and, having always an underground refuge from extremes of heat or cold, 

 they have acquired an independence of temperature belonging to few 

 other wild mammals. Possibly this adaptability has counted in preserv- 

 ing the stability of type, which has come down with little change since 

 its first introduction in the Miocene Age. Though common in the rice 

 and cotton fields of the far South, they occur upon our highest mountains, 

 and reach far towards the North-pole. One or two American species are 

 semiaquatic in their habits, but less so than are some of the Old World 

 soricidse. 



Forests and prairies alike are haunted by the shrews, which do not 

 avoid civilized districts, carrying on their secret service regardless of 

 man's pretensions to royalty, and doing so all the more easily because 

 they work at night. In the moist woods of the South and West yon can 

 ■hardly turn over a log or old fence-rail which shall not exhibit under- 

 neath it a main passage-way and many side-tracks traversed by these small 



3 



