Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon Part 20

McMaster says that these shrews will also eat bread, and adds: "insects, however, form their chief diet, so they thus do us more good than harm. I once disturbed one that evidently had been eating part of a large scorpion."

NO. 126. SOREX MURINUS.

_The Mouse-coloured Shrew_ (_Jerdon's No. 70_).

HABITAT.--India generally, Burmah and Ceylon.

DESCRIPTION.--Brownish-grey above, paler beneath; fur coa.r.s.er and longer than in the last species, and in the young ones the colour is more of a bluish-grey, browner on the back. The ears are larger than those of _S. caerulescens_; tail nearly equal to the body, thick at the base, and spa.r.s.ely covered with long coa.r.s.e hairs; feet and tail flesh-coloured in the living animal.

SIZE.--Head and body about 6 inches; tail, 3-1/2 inches.

"This," as Jerdon says, "is the common musk-rat of China, Burmah, and the Malayan countries, extending into Lower Bengal and Southern India, especially the Malabar Coast, where it is said to be the common species, the bite of which is considered venomous by the natives."

Kellaart mentions it in Ceylon as the "common _musk shrew_ or rat of Europeans;" but he confuses it with the last species. He gives the Singhalese name as "_koone meeyo_." The musky odour of this species is less powerful, and is almost absent in the young. Blyth states that he was never able to obtain a specimen of it in Lower Bengal, yet the natives here discriminate between the light and dark-coloured shrews, and hold, with the people of Malabar, that the bite of the latter is venomous. Horsfield states that it has been found in Upper India, Nepal, and a.s.sam, and he gives the vernacular name in the last-named country as "_seeka_."

NO. 127. SOREX NEMORIVAGUS.

_The Nepal Wood Shrew_ (_Jerdon's No. 71_).

HABITAT.--Nepal.

DESCRIPTION.--Differs from the last "by a stouter make, by ears smaller and legs entirely nude, and by a longer and more tetragonal tail; colour sooty black, with a vague reddish smear; the nude parts fleshy grey; snout to rump, 3-5/8 inches; tail, 2 inches, planta, 11/16 inch. Found only in woods and coppices."--_Hodgson_.

NO. 128. SOREX SERPENTARIUS.

_The Rufescent Shrew_ (_Jerdon's No. 72_).

HABITAT.--Southern India, Burmah and Ceylon.

DESCRIPTION.--Colour dusky greyish, with rufous brown tips to the hairs (_Blyth_). Above dusky slate colour with rufescent tips to the fur; beneath paler, with a faint rufous tinge about the breast (_Jerdon_). Fur short ashy-brown, with a ferruginous smear on the upper surface; beneath a little paler coloured (_Kellaart_). Teeth and limbs small; tail slender.

SIZE.--Head and body about 4-1/2 inches; tail, 2 inches; skull, 1-2/10 inch.

The smell of this musk shrew is said by Kellaart, who names it _S.

Kandia.n.u.s_, to be quite as powerful as that of _S. caerulescens_.

Blyth seems to think that this animal gets more rufescent with age, judging from two examples sent from Mergui. By some oversight, I suppose, he has not included this species in his 'Catalogue of the Mammals of Burmah.'

NO. 129. SOREX SATURATIOR.

_The Dark Brown Shrew_ (_Jerdon's No. 73_).

HABITAT.--Darjeeling.

DESCRIPTION.--"Colour uniform deep brown, inclining to blackish, with a very slight rufescent shade; fur short, with an admixture of a few lengthened piles, when adpressed to the body smooth, but reversed somewhat harsh and rough; tail cylindrical, long, gradually tapering; mouth elongated, regularly attenuated, ears moderate, rounded."

SIZE.--Head and body, 5-1/2 inches; tail, 3 inches.

Jerdon seems to think this is the same as _S. Griffithi_ or closely allied; I cannot say anything about this, as I have no personal knowledge of the species, but on comparison with the description of _S. Griffithi_ (which see further on) I should say they were identical.

NO. 130. SOREX TYTLERI.

_The Dehra Shrew_ (_Jerdon's No. 74_).

HABITAT.--Dehra Doon.

DESCRIPTION.--"Light rufescent sandy brown, paler beneath; unusually well clad even on the feet and tail, this last being covered with shortish fur having numerous long hairs intermixed; form very robust; basal portion of tail very thick."

SIZE.--Head and body, 4-1/2 inches; tail, 2-3/4 inches; hind foot, 7/8 inch.

NO. 131. SOREX NIGER.

_The Neilgherry Wood Shrew_ (_Jerdon's No. 75_).

HABITAT.--Ootacamund, Neilgherry hills.

DESCRIPTION.--"Blackish-brown, with a rufescent shade on the upper parts; abdomen greyish; tail equal in length to the entire animal, exclusive of the head, gradually tapering to a point; snout greatly attenuated. Length of head and body, 3-1/2 inches; of the tail, 2-1/2 inches."--_Horsfield_.

NO. 132. SOREX LEUCOPS.

_The Long-tailed Shrew_ (_Jerdon's No. 76_).

HABITAT.--Nepal.

DESCRIPTION.--Uniform blackish-brown colour; tail very long and slender, exceeding in length the head and body, terminating in a whitish tip of half an inch long.

SIZE.--Head and body, 3 inches; tail, 2-1/2 inches. Jerdon supposes that it is found at great alt.i.tudes, from Hodgson having in another place described it (MSS.) under the name _nivicola_.

NO. 133. SOREX SOCCATUS.

_The Hairy-footed Shrew_ (_Jerdon's No. 77_).

HABITAT.--Nepal, Sikim, Mussoorie.

DESCRIPTION.--According to Hodgson, nearly the size of _S.

nemorivagus_, "but distinguished by its feet being clad with fur down to the nails, and by its depressed head and tumid bulging cheeks (mystaceal region); ears large and exposed; colour a uniform sordid or brownish-slaty blue, extending to the clad extremities; snout to rump, 3-1/2 inches; tail, 2-1/2 inches; planta, 13/16 inch. This animal was caught in a wood plentifully watered, but not near the water. It had no musky smell when brought to me dead."

NO. 134. SOREX MONTa.n.u.s.

_The Ceylon Black Shrew_.

HABITAT.--Ceylon, mountainous parts.

DESCRIPTION.--"Fur above sooty black without any ferruginous smear, beneath lighter coloured; whiskers long, silvery grey; some parts of legs and feet greyish, clothed with adpressed hairs; claws short, whitish; ears large, round, naked; outer margin lying on a level with the fur of the head and neck, the ears being thus concealed posteriorly; tail tetragonal, tapering, shorter than head and body."--_Kellaart_.

SIZE.--Head and body, 3-3/4 inches; tail, 2-1/4 inches; hind feet, 1/3 inch.

NO. 135. SOREX FERRUGINEUS.

_The Ceylon Rufescent Shrew_.