MAMMALS OF UTAH 157 



NAVIGATOR SHREW 



NEOSOREX PALUSTRIS NAVIGATOR (Baird) 



Neosorex navigator Baird, N. Am. Mamm., p. 11, 1857 

 Neosorex palustris navigator Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm, 



F. C. M. Pub. II. 1901, p. 379. Zool. Ser. 

 Sorex palustris Merr., N. A. P. No. 5, 1891, p. 35 (nee Rich- 

 ardson). 



Description — Body rather thick and full; feet very 

 large, broad, and long, entirely naked beneath, covered above 

 with short stiff hairs ; the soles and palms margined with 

 a fringe of stiff parallel ciliated bristles, longest on the 

 soles; the fingers and toes all with a separate ciliation of 

 shorter hairs; the soles are occupied by a pavement of 

 crowded, minute scale-like tubercles, extending from the 

 heel to the bases of the^oes; hind feet about twice the 

 length of the fore-feet; the ears are small, and in the dried 

 skin very inconspicuous; the whiskers are numerous, the 

 longest reaching back to the arms; the tail is longer than 

 the body, tetragonal in the dried animal, a pointed pencil of 

 hairs at the tip ; the hairs elsewhere rather short, but close 

 pressed and of uniform length everywhere. The fur is 

 long, and very full and soft; its color above and on the 

 sides is a mixed hoary and smoky brown; the hairs being 

 lead color for most of their length from the base, grayish 

 towards tip, then smoky brown, sometimes dark Jbrown at 

 the end. Intermixed are longer hairs, black with grayish 

 tips. The under parts are of a dull grayish-white ,with a 

 tinge of brownish yellow, in strong contrast with the color 

 of the back and sides. The feet, with the fingers, are of a 

 mixed brown and gray, except on the inner edge, where 

 they are colored like the belly. The tail is like the back, 

 except on the under surface, where it is of a sharply defined 

 whitish, like the belly. Length of head and body, 2 1/12 

 inches; tail, 3. (Baird.) 



Distribution — Rocky Mountains from British Columbia 

 to southern Colorado, Sierra Nevada of California, to Se- 

 quoia National Park. Specimens have been taken at Park 

 City, Utah, and at other points in the Wasatch Mountains. 

 Though S. B. Locke reports that shrews occur in the La Sal 

 Mountains, I have never seen specimens. 



Habits — This species is aquatic, living on the borders 

 of streams and marshes. It is frequently found in the moss 

 at the edge of moutnain streams or in the dense vegetation 

 of cold bogs and mountain meadows. It probably feeds on 

 meadow mice, as well as insects and worms. 



