264 The Mammals of Colorado 
habits. They hve about meadows and damp places, in the 
grass; also among fallen and rotten logs in the timber. They 
live on insects of various kinds, and being, in spite of their 
small size, very savage little animals, also kill small mice. 
Dr. Merriam once confined thiee of them under a large 
glass tumbler, and first two attacked the other, and killed 
and ate it, and after a little one of the survivors killed and ate 
the other! This all took place within eight hours. They 
breed during the spring and summer, and have from four to 
eight young. Five were found in a female taken July 15 th, 
at Mud Springs, Garfield County. 
Sorex vagrans dobsoni (Lat. vagus, wandering; dohsoni, 
for Dr. C. E. Dobson), 
Sorcx dobsoni Merriam, N. A. Fauna, No. 5, pp. 33-34 (1891). 
Type locality. — Saw-tooth, or Alturas Lake, east base of Saw-tooth 
Mountains, Idaho. 
Measurements. — Total length, 4.35; tail vert., 1.6; hind foot, 0.5. 
Description. — "Upper parts uniform dull sepia brown with a 
faint chestnut tinge ; under parts ashy gray, washed with drab ; tail 
bicolor, dark brown above, drab below. In winter pelage the upper 
parts are iron gray or ash gray with very little sepia, and the under 
parts are white or nearly white." Merriam. 
Skull medium size; palate of moderate width; anterior part of 
rostrum rather attenuate ; unicuspid series narrow. 
Distribution. — Dobson's Shrew is found in the mountains of 
Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. In the latter 
State we have only one record. Lake Moraine, El Paso County. 
Sorex obscurus (Lat. dark, dusky). Dusky Shrew 
Sorex obscurus Merriam, N . A. Fauna, No. 10, p. 72 (1895), 
Sorex vagrans similis Merriam, A^. A. Fauna, No. 5, pp. 34-35 
(1891). 
Type locality. — Timber Creek, Salmon River Mountains, Idaho. 
(Altitude 8,200 feet.) 
Measurements. — Total length, 4.25 ; tail vert., 1.85 ; hind foot, 0.5. 
Description. — In summer, upper parts dull sepia brown, under 
parts ashy, tinged with sepia; in winter the upper parts are ash 
gray and under parts ashy whitish; in either pelage the tail is 
bicolor, the upper portion like back, under part lighter, whitish. 
