42 MAMMALS OF EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS 



Order Insectivora. 



Family Soricid^e. 



Common long-tailed shrew ; Masked shrew. 80- 



rex personatus, I. Geoff roy. 



Common locally. Dr. G. M. Allen and Dr. C. W 

 Townsend found it at Ipswich Beach. This tiny mamma 1 

 can hardly be compared with any other in this vicinity. It 

 is 3.71 inches long, very slender, with long pointed nose 

 and extremely long " whiskers." Dark brown above, 

 shading to gray on under side. They look very tiny when 

 compared with any of the mice. Their food consists 

 mostly of insects which they hunt persistently winter and 

 summer generally along the edge of streams. They, (like 

 all the small insectivora) sometimes find the summer 

 drought too much for them and many die from thirst at 

 this time. They are usually found beneath old boards or 

 logs. Dr. Merriam, speaking of their voracious habits, 

 states that he — " Once confined three of them under an 

 ordinary tumbler. Almost immediately they began fight- 

 ing, and in a few moments one was slaughtered and eaten 

 by the other two; before night one of these killed and ate 

 the other. Hence in less than eight hours one of these 

 tiny beasts had consumed two of its own species, each as 

 large and heavy as itself." The following quotation from 

 American Mammals by Stone & Cram is of interest in this 

 connection. 11 If one is sitting quietly in the woods it 

 sometimes happens that a slight rustling of leaves reaches 

 the ear. There is no sound, but the eye rests on a fallen 

 leaf that seems to move. Presently another turns com- 

 pletely over. Then something evanescent like the shadow 

 of an embryonic mouse appears and vanishes again before 

 the retina can catch the perfect image, — and you have 

 seen a shrew." 



