HKPOtlT 01? STATR GT^OLODTST. 



Logansport. I have trapped for it unsuccessfully in the sphagnum 

 bogs and marshes of the northern part of the State as well as else- 

 where. 



Habits. — The long-tailed shrews appear to require more moist 

 situations for their habitat than their short-tailed relatives. Like 

 the latter, however, they most often make their homes under old 

 logs and woodpiles and about hollow trees. 



Their food consists chiefly of insects. They are active all winter 

 and their tracks on the snow can sometimes be seen even in the 

 coldest weather, showing where they have traveled about from log 

 to log or stopped to search for food in the decaying wood at the 

 base of a hollow tree. 



Dr. Merriam has given us the following account of their habits : 

 While * * * sitting in the woods a slight rustling sometimes 

 reaches the ear. There is no wind, but the eye rests upon a fallen 

 leaf that seems to move. Presently another stirs and perhaps a 

 third turns completely over. Then something evanescent, like the 

 shadow of an embryonic mouse, appears and vanishes before the 

 retina can catch its perfect image. Anon, the restless phantom 

 flits across the open space, leaving no trace behind. But a charge 

 of fine shot, dropped with quick aim upon the next leaf that moves 

 will usually solve the mystery. The author of the perplexing com- 

 motion is found to be a curious sharp nosed creature, no bigger than 

 one's little finger, and weighing hardly more than half a dram. 

 Its ceaseless activity, and the rapidity with which it darts from 

 place to place is truly astonishing, and rarely permits the ob- 

 server a correct impression of its form. * * * 



"Not only are these agile and restless little shrews voracious 

 and almost insatiable, consuming incredible quantities of raw meat 

 and insects with great eagerness, but they are veritable cannibals 

 withal, and will even slay and devour their own kind. I once eon- 

 fined three of them under an ordinary tumbler. Almost immediately 

 they commenced fighting, and in a few minutes one was slaughtered 

 and eaten by the other two. Before night one of these killed and 

 ate its only surviving companion, and its abdomen was greatly dis- 

 tended by the meal. Hence, in less than eight hours one of these 

 tiny wild ])easts had attacked, overcome and ravenously consumed 

 two of its own s|)e('ies. each ns Inrge niid henvy as itself." 



