600 



REPORT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



cooked meat and died soon afterward, but whether from the effects 

 of eating the meat he did not know. 



Another was kept in a glass vessel about five inches deep. It 

 moved a cover weighing one pound and escaped from the enclosure 

 during the night. It was retaken next morning and put in a box 

 with some decayed wood and soon made for itself a nest by building 

 up a very compact wall of the rotten bits of wood, afterward lining 

 its home with paper and rags which it cut into very fine bits. 



It became very tame and would eat corn, insects or worms from 

 Dr. Plummer's hand, sometimes tugging and pulling at a worm that 

 was held between the finger and thumb. Fresh fish and meat were 

 also eaten, as well as various grains. Excess of food was stored 

 away for future use, but living or fresh food was preferred to that 

 which was stale or putrid. 



It learned to come at call and never failed to respond. It 

 would usually come out of its box on hearing the buzzing of a fly, 

 but on warm summer noons generally retired to its box and either 

 did not hear or did not respond to this sound. Except when called 

 out into the middle of the room, it always stayed close to the wall or 

 crept about under furniture. 



A full grown mouse placed in the box crept away into the 

 shrew 's runways. It soon emerged, however, with the shrew in full 

 pursuit. The mouse exhibited the greatest terror and when it was 

 finally caught, did not offer any resistance and was killed almost 

 instantly. A younger shrew, placed in the box, was also pursued 

 frequently. Finally it gave combat and was killed. The older 

 shrew carried the body away to its nest and then began at once to 

 construct a new nest. 



The voice of the shrew is almost exactly like the rapid chip-chip- 

 chip of the ground squirrel. Light and smell do not appear to have 

 an effective range of more than one-half inch from the head of the 

 animal. Hearing is very acute. 



In a state of nature, these shrews live in tunnels and runways, 

 which they construct under old logs, in loose soil, the dry leaves of 

 the forest, and dense grass. They are l)oth diurnal and nocturnal. 

 Their food consists chiefly of insects and worms, but seeds and nuts 

 are also eaten. Their natural ferocity is not exaggerated in Dr. 

 Plummer's account of the killing of the mouse. I have known one, 

 in the wild state, to kill a mouse larger than itself. 



l*r()f. E. D. Cope has contributed th(^ foHowing note which fur- 

 ther illustrates the ferocity of these animals. "I placed a water 

 snake two feet long in a fernery which was inliabii(Ml by a shrew. 



