SHREW (AS. scffaira, shrew; connected with 011G. serf:item Ger. sehroten, to cut, gnaw, bruise. AS. serOudian, Eng. shred). A small nocturnal quadruped of the family Soricidw, and especially of the genus which includes the smallest of all mammals. The shrews are often con founded with mice, but belong to all entirely dif ferent order, the lnseetivora (q.v.). The head is very long; the snout elongated, attenuated, and capable of being moved about. The eyes are minute, the ears small, the tail long, and both body and tail are covered with fine, short hair of a dark color without distinctive variegations. They abound in dry fields, woods, and gardens, and some species are semi-aquatic. They feed chiefly upon insects and worms, especially earth worms; and, as they are able to obtain food at all seasons of the year, they do not hibernate. The northern species are among the hardiest of animals, ranging far toward the Arctic regions, and abroad during all winter. Most species make no burrows, but grub about among the roots of the herbage, make long runways beneath the fallen leaves, and hide in old stumps and beneath rotting logs. They are common and use ful in gardens. The males are excessively pug nacious, and tight fiercely in spring, often killing one another. They form the prey of weasels, foxes, hawks, owls, shrikes, and many other ani mals, and are frequently caught by household eats, but seldom eaten by them, probably on ac count of their strong musky odor. Although harmless, this animal has long been regarded with dread and hatred by the peasantry of Eu rope, who believe it to be poisonous, and attrib ute to it other evils. The numerous American
species of shrews fall into three genera, Sorex, Neosorex, and Blarina. The largest of these is the swamp-haunting water-shrew, which is six inches in length, including the tail; it is found from Massachusetts to the Rocky Mountains, and northward. Of the other American shrews, the one most eommon in the Eastern United States is the 'short-tailed' or 'mole' shrew (Blarina breri eauda) . This is a blackish, stout-bodied, ravenous little animal, which feeds largely upon flesh of every kind, and often kills the young of small birds. It takes its name of mole-shrew on ac count of its unusual habit of frequently forcing its way through the loose top-soil like a mole. Perhaps the best known American form, how ever, is the long-tailed 'shrew mouse' (Sorcx personatus), which is smaller, lighter in color, and most numerous about marshes and streams. An Italian shrew is the smallest of all known mammals,having a body only an inch and a half in length. It is a member of the genus Croci dura, which also includes the largest known shrew, one Oriental species of which is that known in India as the 'muskrat.' (q.v.). Con sult standard zoblogies, especially Beddard, a in malia (London, 1902) ; Stone and Cram, Ameri can Animals (New York, 1902).