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BULLETIN OF WISCONSIN NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. VOL. 2. NO. 2. 
Third — One found lying between the railway rails at Minne- 
sota Junction on Sept. i, 1900. It was too far advanced in de- 
composition to preserve. 
Fourth — No. 1883, caught Dec. 13, 1900, as it ran from under 
a log in a grove of oaks, a grove covering fully an acre. 
Fifth — No. 951, found dead on March 15, 1901, near the 
barns. 
It will be observed that these five were found in various loca- 
tions — in timber, grain fields and along fence lines. From this 
fact, and also owing to its diminutive size, swift movements and 
nocturnal, retiring habits, I feel assured that it is a common spe- 
cies, though so seldom observed. 
Blarina hrevicauda (Short-tailed Shrew.) 
This Shrew is common about stone walls, rail fences and un- 
der brush piles in the woods, and large boulders about the fields. 
It is nocturnal in habits, though occasionally seen abroad in 
the day. 
This species is the bane of the trapper of small rodents. Often 
do I find in my traps a Peroinyscus or Microtis, which has been 
ruined for a skin, by this carnivorous creature. 
Lepus Horidanus mcarnsi (Western Cotton-tail.) 
The Western Hare is common, and even abundant, in some 
districts, and scarce in others. They frequent all conditions of 
habitats, excepting the flooded marshes, but prefer woodland and 
grassy, weedy tracts. 
In severe weather they spend their hours in some excavation in 
the earth, made by a skunk or woodchuck. I have no proof that 
they ever excavate their own homes. During the warm months 
they may be found scattered over the fields and meadows. 
Hunters have brought me reports from time to time of a very 
large big-eared Rabbit, occurring in a tamarack swamp near Lost 
Lake. It is unlikely that any Jack Rabbits occur in Wisconsin, and 
as these are said to be brown in winter as well as summer, they 
cannot be the Varying Hare (Lepus Aincricanus) . a species com- 
mon in northern Minnesota and presumably occurring in northern 
Wisconsin. Their big-eared fellows are presumably very large 
examples of the common western form of floridanus. 
Tiie 27th of last October, a local hunter killed a Rabbit which 
had a white stripe, extending upward from its nose to the base of 
the ears. Its greatest width is nearly an inch. The head was left 
for me at a local store, and, on subsequent inquiry, I was informed 
that the rabbit was otherwise marked as common with the species. 
