The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-01-17
THA SHIGE WIS.

The shrews, or 'shrew mice," as they
 are often called, belong to family
 which contains the smallest and least
 known of American mammals. Their
 size, quick movements and rather se-
 cretive habits make them particularly difficult animals to observe in a wild l state, and my personal experience has l been that in captivity they do not live l long enough to allow one to get any
 reasonable idea of their habits. So far they are the only animals I have been unable to keep, and although I have tried the experiment many times, in no
 case has shrew lived with me for l twenty-four hours. Why they die so i quickly I do not know. It is hardly | from fear, think. as they seem rather | self-posseEsed little creatures, and it is certainly not because they do not eat, l for they one and all have ravenous ap- 1 petites. On one occasion a shrew I
 caught ate thirty-four house-fies in a few minutes, and followed up this meal l "lIlI dIOlliCI OL IdW ItlGdl. ICCGiLtIS
 read of a case in which a naturalist placed three shrews under a glass tum- bier, and in eight hours there was one | left. Two of the voracious little beasts immediately killed and ate the third, and soon after, one of the survivors | killed and devoured his companion, in other words, one shreW had eaten dOu- ble his own weight in flesh inside of eight hours
 The shrew family in this country is divided into three well-deflned groups; the short-tailed shrews or mole shrews; the long tailed hrews, or shrew mice,
 and the marsh shrews or water shreWs. l Thel are all small, silky-furred. insec- | tivorOus animals, with long mole-like shouts, and tiny rudimentary eyes, l which as rule can scarcely be seen i unless they are searched for under the 1 fur. They are active, rather irritable
 creatures. squeaking loudly when nur
 sued, or when caught by a eat. and l biting savagely in their attempts to re- | gain their liberty. On one occasion I l attempted to carry one home in a handkerchief, but the little captive l quickly gnawed his way out, and when
 I recaptured him, bit me very neatly in the finger.
 | The sh0rt-taiIed shrew which is very common in the eastern states, in gene ral appearance strongly resembles a
 common mole, and Is often mistaken | for one. But besides the fact that the
 mole Is considerably larger than the l of I1a latter should always serve to distin l gush it from the former whose broad
 spade-lke hands" are specially de- signed for digging.
 1 In his habits the mole shrew is es | sentialiy a hunter, hunting for insects
 and other small living prey with the persistence of a weasel. Being eX tremey fond of flesh, 1t is probable that he often devours the callow young of
 birds which nest upon the ground, and
 it is we'll known that he feeds freely on
 the remains of dead animals killed by
 other hunters. In his pursuit of in-
 sects he frequently burrows just below
 the surface of the ground. throwing up | little ridges like those made by mOles, l but narrower. He does not hibernate
 in water, for his tiny footprints may | often be found in the snow, extending l from one hole or hollow tree trunk to another. It is probable that he finds good hunting among the fallen leaves
 beneath the snow at this season. As a perpetual hunter of insects he is of great service to the agriculturist, for an | animal with his dogged persistence and 1 ferocious appetite must destroy an all ! most incalculable number of these pests in the course of a year. In turn he is hunted by owls, weasles, foxes, cats and other does, in spite of the fact that 1 he often erlits disagreeable, musky ] Odor, which no doubt protects him from 1 his more fastidiOus enemies.
 The common shrew. or long tailed
 shrew is much smaller animal, be- ing but three and three-fourths inches long, the tail taking up about one-half | the total length. The smallest vare- ties of this species are the smallest quadrupeds in America. In spite of
 his small size the long-tailed shrew is
 no less energetic than the rest of his l family, and. like them, spends his life
 in the pursuit of insects, which he finds
 in all sorts of places. Sometimes he
 grubs for them amongst the fallen
 leaves in the forest; at other times,
 under logs and woodpies, and amongst l the roots of decying trees, and again
 amongst the decaying rubbish along l the borders of streams. He appears | be active in winter as in summer, and | his footprints are to be found in the
 snow, after every storm. The color of
 this shrew is dark brown, shading to gray underneath.
 ! The marsh shrew is of much the same , build as the preceding, but Iargeer, be- ing about six inches in length. He diff l fers from the other shrews in being | more aquatic. and doubtless obtains a | large portion of his food below the sur | face of the water. He is good driver,