PRELIMINARY LIST OF THE MAMMALS OF NEW YORK 361 



1858 Blarina brevkauda Baird, Mamm. N. Am. p. 42 (part). 

 1858 Blarina talpoides Baird, Mamm. N. Am. p. 37 (part). 

 1884 Blarina brevkauda Merriam, Linn. soc. New York. Trans. 1884. 

 2 : 66. 



1896 Blarina brevkauda Fisher, The Observer. May 1896. 7 : 194. 

 1898 Blarina brevkauda Mcarns, Am. mus. nat. hist. Bui. 9 Sep. 

 1898. 10:343. 



1898 Blarina brevkauda Mearns, U. S. Nat. mus. Proc. 21 1356. 

 Type locality. Near Blair, Nebraska. 



Faunal position. Boreal transition and upper austral zones. 



Habitat. Fields and woods, wet or dry marshes, borders of streams. 

 Every variety of country appears to be equally attractive to this animal. 

 • Distribution in New York. The short- tailed shrew is one of the most 

 abundant and widely distributed of the mammals that occur in the state. 

 There are probably very few square miles in New York not inhabited by 

 hundreds of individuals. 



Principal records. De Kay : " This shrew is found in Albany county 

 and in the southern parts of the state n ('42, p. 18) . . . "I have had 

 an opportunity of examining a recent specimen from Queens co. 

 which I refer to this species " ('42, p. 19). " [This shrew is] commonly 

 found in this state " ('42, p. 21). Merriam: " The short-tailed shrew is, I 

 presume, the most abundant of the insectivorous mammals that occur in 

 the Adirondack mountains, and is found alike in the dense coniferous 

 forests of the interior and the cleared and settled districts of the surround- 

 ing region " (' 84d, p. 66). Fisher : " A common species [in the neighbor- 

 hood of Sing Sing]. Almost everywhere in the woods its tunnels may be 

 found running hither and thither under the matting of dry leaves or old 

 decayed logs. In the open meadows it is less common though occasion- 

 ally found, attracted there no doubt by the meadow mice or other favorite 

 food" ('96, p. 194). Mearns: "Very abundant from Schoharie creek 

 up to the higher mountain tops where it appears to be less numerous 

 though several were taken on the summit of Hunter mountain " ( '98b, 

 P- 35 6 )- 



I have found the short-tailed shrew abundant at Geneva, Ontario co. 

 Peterboro, Madison co. and Elizabethtown, Essex co. 



Mr Savage writes that he has taken three or four specimens near 

 Buffalo. 



According to Mr Helme the short-tailed shrew is very common on 

 Long Island. 



