No. 488] 



HABITS OF THE SHREW 



517 



early in April when it was warm enougli for them to crawL This 

 may have been due to the fact tliat my first shrew was (•ai)tiire(l 

 at this set of burrows, so that only one shrew was left to devonr 

 the snails originally intended for two. liodies of Microtiis wcie 

 hoarded but were not transferred to the surface. I'liis a^ain 

 indicates that the cold storage serves to keep the snails ininiohilc 

 rather than to prevent decomposition. 



Too little has heretofore been known of the short-tailed shrew 

 to make an estimate of its economic importance practicable. 

 Stomach examinations are almost wanting, my own work including 

 but two. However, from data concerning the quantities of food 

 in laboratory and field, I have attempted an estimate of the eco- 

 nomic importance of Blarina. 



Three principal elements determine the economic value of a 

 species, namely its range, its abundance, and the character and 

 quantity of its food. Of the range of Blarina, Rhoads says (1903, 

 p. 192): "Atlantic Ocean to Nebraska and Manitoba; Quebec 

 to Virginia." This is practically the northeastern quarter of the 

 United States. Of its abundance, the same author says (p. lOiii: 

 "This species stands preeminent above all others of our nianiniais 

 in its combined abundance and universality of distrilxiiion in all 

 conceivable situations. Not a place have I trapped over in tlic 

 two states but what it Avas amoni:- tlie first species to he canuht. 

 It is found in our deepest, coKU-st niouinain ravines, on the stormy, 

 barren mountain top, in the hanl^s and valleys of low tidewater 

 streams an(] maritime nuirshes, and delights in roving from the 

 cool sphagntnn bogs of the N. J. cedar swamps where tlie temper- 

 ature may be Inflow (10° to the hot sand barrens of the adjoining 

 fields whli a niid-.lav heat of 110.° Forest and plain, sand and 

 clay, ban-en or fruitful field, back w..ods or door yard, heat and 

 cold, wet and dry. day an.l night, have common charms for this 

 cosmopolite." It is (Hfhcult to conceive of the shrew in some of 

 these sittiations after having observed hs almost futile atteinj.ts 



Yet numerous records atte->t it^ presence in the-e ^ituation-^. 



different mannnals foun<l in the pellets of owls to (leterniine tlie 

 relative abundance of the aniinaN. .^hrcws necessarily came far 



