426 Firtp Musrum or Natura History — Zoétocy, Vor. XI. 
that the Shrew had no difficulty in keeping alongside, and soon had him 
by the ear. The mouse rolled and kicked and scratched and bit, but 
to no avail. The Shrew was evidently much pleased and forthwith 
began to devour the ear. When he had it about half eaten-off the 
mouse again tore himself free; but his inveterate little foe did not suffer 
him to escape. This time the Shrew clambered up over his back 
and was soon at work consuming the remainder of the ear. This being 
satisfactorily accomplished, he continued to push on in the same direc- 
tion till he had cut through the skull and eaten the brains, together 
with the whole side of the head and part of the shoulder. This com- 
pleted his first meal, which occupied not quite fifteen minutes after the 
death of the mouse. As soon as he had finished eating I again placed 
him upon the scale and found that he weighed exactly 12. grammes — 
an increase of .80 gramme. 
“The Shrew was half an hour in tiring the mouse, and another half 
hour in killing him. But it must be remembered that he was not 
fully grown, and was doubtless, on this account, longer in capturing 
and killing his victim than would have been the case had he been an 
adult. Still, it is clear that a Shrew could never catch mice on open 
ground. His small size, however, enables him readily to enter their 
holes and to follow them to their nests and the remotest ramifications 
of their burrows, where, having no escape, he can slay them with 
fearful certainty.’’* 
Regarding the habits of this species Robert Kennicott writes: 
“The short-tailed shrew abounds both in prairie and woods. I am 
unable to say whether it exists far out on the larger prairies; but it has 
been found in abundance several miles from any woodland. It is fond of 
high ground, and is not at all aquatic. I have been unable to find 
traces of it in wet places, such as swamps and the edges of sloughs, 
within a few rods of which it is numerous. I have nowhere seen more 
of its tracks than on some white-oak ridges lying several miles west 
of Lake Michigan. But even where most numerous, it is little known; 
and, indeed, it is no easy matter to get sight of one of them at any 
time. In turning over old logs, for hours, in search of them, I have 
rarely been able to see one; and then only when it was retreating at 
such speed as to generally escape in some of the numerous path-ways 
which lead in every direction from a log thus chosen for its resting 
place, or under which it may happen to take refuge on a journey by 
day. These, like other shrews, are often found lying dead on the 
ground, both in winter and summer, having been killed by birds or 
beasts of prey, and left uneaten on account of their disagreeable odor; 
*Mamm. Adirondack Reg., 1886, pp. 166-168. 
