SORKX COOl'ERI. I 73 



early in May. Another female, caught near the same place, April 

 21, 1884, contained five large embryos which would certainly have 

 been born within ten days. They weighed, together, 4.20 grammes. 

 I procured a half-grown young, February 10, 1884, which must have 

 been born late in the fall. Hence two or three litters are probably 

 produced each season. The young born in autumn do not breed in 

 the spring following, as I have demonstrated by repeated dissections 

 of both sexes. 



SOREX COOPERI Bachman. 



Cooper's Shrew. 



This diminutive Shrew, the smallest known mammalian inhabitant 

 of the Adirondacks. is quite common in most parts of the region, but 

 much more abundant some years than others. Its food is supposed 

 to consist wholly of insects and their larva;, and the carcasses of 

 animals that chance throws in its way. 



Like its congeners, it manifests a predilection for the immediate 

 vicinage of old logs and stumps, and its holes can frequently be found, 

 both in summer and winter, in these places, and about the roots of 

 trees. 



Underground life does not appear to be as attractive to it as to its 

 relatives, the moles, yet it avoids too much exposure and commonly 

 moves, by night and by day, under cover of the fallen leaves, twigs, 

 and other debris that always cover the ground in our northern forests. 



The Naturalist well knows that, however cautiously he may walk,, 

 the stir of his footstep puts to flight many forms of life that will re- 

 appear as soon as quiet is restored ; therefore, in his excursions 

 through the woods, he waits and watches, frequently stopping to 

 listen and observe. While thus occupied it sometimes happens that 

 a slight rustling reaches his ear. There is no wind, but the eye rests 

 upon a fallen leaf that seems to move. Presently another stirs and 

 perhaps a third turns completely over. Then something evanescent, 



