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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



moisture near the surface decreases the soil 

 hardens and earthworms and other subter- 

 ranean life seek deeper levels. The mole fol- 

 lows them, only to return with them nearer the 

 surface with a renewal of the moisture. In 

 winter it sometimes comes out and travels 

 slowly about on top of the snow, ready to bur- 

 row out of sight at once, however, at the sound 

 of approaching footsteps. 



The food of the star-nose, like that of most 

 other moles, is made up mainly of earthworms, 

 white grubs, cutworms, wireworms, and other 

 underground insects. In captivity, before eat- 

 ing a worm or other flesh food offered, it first 

 feels of it with the little raylike organs of 

 touch on its nose. It is difficult to surmise the 

 real value of these "feelers," for it would seem 

 that the acute sense of smell so common to 

 mammals should do better service. 



Aside from its disturbance of the surface soil 

 by its ridges and mounds, the star-nosed mole 

 does no direct injury, and its life is largely 

 passed in the useful task of searching out and 

 destroying insects. Indirectly it causes some 

 injury to root crops, plants of various kinds, 

 and fruit trees, by providing tunnels along 

 which meadow and pine mice travel to commit 

 the ravages which on circumstantial evidence 

 are charged to the mole. 



THE COMMON SHREW (Sorex per- 

 sonatus and its relatives) 



(For illustration, see page 464) 



Many interesting small mammals are noc- 

 turnal or lead such obscure and hidden lives 

 that they are rarely observed except by natural- 

 ists. Of these are the numerous species of 

 shrews, which include the smallest mammals in 

 the world. These tiny beasts all live among the 

 vegetation and debris on the surface of the 

 ground or in little burrows below. With the 

 moles they are members of the order Insec- 

 tivora and depend mainly on insects and meat 

 for food. Despite their minute size, they are 

 possessed of an indomitable courage and ferocity, 

 which leads them without hesitation to attack 

 and kill mice many times their own weight. 



The genus Sorex, of which the common shrew 

 is a member, is circumpolar in distribution, the 

 various species ranging through England, the 

 European mainland, Asia, and North America 

 as far south as Guatemala. 



The common shrew is a purely North Amer- 

 ican animal, occupying all the northern part of 

 the continent from the Arctic shores of Alaska 

 and Canada south to northern Nevada, South 

 Dakota, Illinois, and Pennsylvania, and along 

 the Allegheny and high Rocky Mountains to 

 North Carolina and New Mexico. Its vertical 

 range extends from the seacoast up to timber- 

 line in the Rocky Mountains. 



The common shrew is the smallest of the 

 mammals in all the northern parts of this con- 

 tinent, and one marvels at the possibility of 

 such a tiny morsel of flesh and blood with- 

 standing the rigors of the arctic winters. It 



measures about four inches in total length and 



weighs about forty-five grains; the body and 

 tail are slender, the nose long and sharp, and 

 the rim of the ears shows a little above tin- 

 dense velvety fur. By these characters it may 

 be distinguished from the larger, more heavily 

 proportioned (and darker-colored) short-tailed 

 shrews which abound with it in certain parts 

 of its range. Its smaller size and grayish 

 brown color are. the main superficial differences 

 between it and other American members of the 

 same genus. The climatic differences in its 

 wide range have developed several geographic 

 races, none of which, however, show strongly 

 marked characters. 



This shrew appears to have a most catholic 

 taste, so far as its surroundings are concerned, 

 for it appears to frequent every type of situa- 

 tion where shelter and food can be found. It 

 abounds among the peat beds and sphagnum 

 mosses of the desolate barrens bordering on 

 the Arctic coast, as well as amid the rotten 

 stumps, old logs, fallen leaves, and other vege- 

 table debris on the floor of the forests farther 

 south. It will be found also in the rank matted 

 vegetation about marshes, in old fields and oc- 

 casional sphagnum swamps in the southern 

 parts of its range. 



The little tunneled runways of these shrews 

 form a network in the beds of moss in a sphag- 

 num swamp near Washington. In the forest 

 the animals always seek the cover afforded by 

 fallen logs, slabs of bark, or anything else that 

 will give protection. On the coast of New 

 Jersey they live so near the sea that an extra 

 high tide forces them to mount the drift logs 

 on the salt meadows for safety. They often 

 make little burrows in the soft earth under the 

 roots of a tree, a stump, or a log. 



Their nests are small balls of dry leaves, 

 grasses, or other soft vegetable material placed 

 snugly under a log or in a hollow stump, bur- 

 row, or other good retreat, where they appear 

 to have two or more litters of from six to ten 

 young during the summer and fall. 



As in the other shrews, the food of the com- 

 mon species consists mainly of insects, larvae, 

 worms, and obtainable flesh ; but in winter and 

 possibly at other seasons many kinds of food 

 are eaten, including insects, meat, fat, flour, 

 and seeds. During the years I passed at St. 

 Michael, on the coast of Bering Sea, the be- 

 ginning of winter always brought into the store- 

 houses and dwellings a swarm of field mice, 

 lemmings, and these shrews. The food require- 

 ments of all appeared to be the same, and all 

 fed freely on the flour and other accessible 

 stores. Dozens of the shrews were killed in 

 the houses every winter. 



Occasionally I caught and kept one captive 

 for a time to observe its habits. It would be 

 extremely restless and equally active by day or 

 night. The small eyes appeared of little serv- 

 ice, but the long, flexible snout was used con- 

 stantly and served as the main reliance of the 

 little beast for information as to the outside 

 world. 



Wherever they travel these shrews utilize the 



