Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon Part 22

_The Black Pigmy-Shrew_.

HABITAT.--Khasia hills.

DESCRIPTION.--"Very dark colour, extending over the feet and tail which is even _blackish underneath_; fur blackish-brown above, a little tinged rufescent, and with dark greyish underneath; the feet and tail conspicuously furred, beside the scattered long hairs upon the latter."--_Blyth_.

This species was determined by Blyth on a single specimen, which was found without its head, impaled by some shrike upon a thorn at Cherrapunji. The same thing occasionally occurs in England, when the common shrew may be found impaled by the rufous-backed shrike (_Lanius collurio_).

_SUB-GENUS SORICULUS_ (_Blyth_).

The foregoing species being of the _white-toothed_ variety (with the exception of _S. melanodon_, which, however, exhibits coloration decidedly the _reverse_ of the following type), we now come to the shrews with teeth tipped with a darker colour; the dent.i.tion is as in the restricted shrews, with the peculiarity of colour above mentioned. The hind feet of ordinary proportions, unadapted for aquatic habits, and the tail slender and tapering, like that of a mouse, instead of being cylindrical with a stiff brush at the end.

NO. 145. SORICULUS NIGRESCENS.

_The Mouse-tailed Shrew_ (_Jerdon's No. 82_).

HABITAT.--Sikim and Nepal.

DESCRIPTION.--"Above dark-blackish or blackish-brown, slightly tinged rufescent, and with a silvery cast in certain lights; beneath greyish-black" (_Jerdon_). Feet and claws pale; tail slender, straight and naked.

SIZE.--Head and body, 3-1/4 inches; tail, 1-1/2 inch; hind foot, 5/8 inch.

Jerdon says that Kellaart named an allied species from Ceylon _Corsira newera ellia_, but I have not been able to find it in his 'Prodromus Faunae Zeylanicae,' nor elsewhere.

_GENUS CROSSOPUS_ (_Wagner_).

The hind feet large; the lower surface, as also of the tail, fringed with stiff hairs; tail somewhat compressed towards the tip; habits aquatic.

NO. 146. CROSSOPUS HIMALAICUS.

_The Himalayan Water-Shrew_ (_Jerdon's No. 83_).

NATIVE NAMES.--_Oong lagniyu_, Lepcha; _Choopitsi_, Bhot.

HABITAT.--Darjeeling.

DESCRIPTION.--Fur dark brown above, paler beneath; rusty brown on the lower part of throat and middle of belly, according to Jerdon; slate coloured back with scattered long hairs, which are longer and white-tipped on the sides and rump, according to Blyth's memoir; ears very small, hairy, concealed; tail long, slender, fringed with stiff whitish hair beneath; whiskers long and brown.

SIZE.--Head and body, 5 to 6 inches; tail about 3-1/2 inches; hind foot, 3/4 to 11/12 inch.

Jerdon procured this water-shrew at Darjeeling in the Little Rungeet river; it is said to live on small fish, tadpoles, water insects, &c. The movements of the English water-shrew, when swimming, are very agile. It propels itself by alternate strokes of its hind feet, but with an undulating motion, its sides being in a manner extended, and body flattened, showing a narrow white border on each side; then the fur collects a ma.s.s of tiny air bubbles which make the submerged portion glow like silver. It prefers clear still water, but at the same time will make its way up running streams and ditches, and occasionally wanders away into fields, and has been found in houses and barns.

Its food is princ.i.p.ally aquatic insects, worms, mollusca, and freshwater crustacea. In Bell's 'British Quadrupeds' its mode of poking about amongst stones in search of fresh-water shrimps (_Gammarus pulex_) is well described. Mr. F. Buckland states that he once dissected a water-shrew and found the intestines to contain a dark fluid pulpy matter, which, on being examined by a microscope, proved to consist entirely of the h.o.r.n.y cases and legs of minute water insects. Continental writers declare that it will attack any small animal that comes in its way, giving it quite a ferocious character, and it is said to destroy fish sp.a.w.n. I can hardly believe in its destroying large fish by eating out their brain and eyes. Brehm, who gives it credit for this, must have been mistaken. I have also read of its attacking a rat in a trap which was dead, and was discovered devouring it, having succeeded in making a small hole through the skin.

In England this animal breeds in May. The young are from five to seven in number, and are brought forth in a small chamber in the bank, which is constructed with several openings, one of which is usually under the level of the water.

Dr. Anderson has very fully described the Himalayan species under the name of _Chimarrogale Himalaica_. He caught a specimen in a mountain stream at Ponsee in the Kakhyen hills, 3500 feet above the sea level, and observed it running over the stones in the bed of the stream and plunging freely into the water hunting for insects.

_GENUS NYCTOGALE_.

Head and skull as in _Soricidae_, but with palmated feet and compressed tail, as in _Myogalidae_. Special characteristic, large pads on the soles of the feet, which form sucking discs.

NO. 147. NYCTOGALE ELEGANS.

_The Thibet Water-Shrew_.

HABITAT.--Moupin in Thibet.

DESCRIPTION.--Fur of two kinds, a soft under down of slaty grey colour through which pa.s.s longer hairs, grey at the base with white tips, "causing the animal to vary considerably in appearance according as these hairs are raised or laid flat;" ears quite concealed, and without a conch; tail stout, longer than the body, quadrangular at the base, then triangular, and finally flattened; feet large and palmated, with large pads on the soles, depressed in the middle, forming sucking discs, which are a peculiar characteristic of this animal.

SIZE.--Head and body about 3-1/2 inches; tail about 4 inches.

Though this is not properly an Indian animal, I have thought fit to include it as belonging to a border country in which much interest is taken, and which has as yet been imperfectly explored.

_GENUS CORSIRA_.

Of Gray, _Amphisorex_ of Duvernoy; differs in dent.i.tion from the last in having the lower quasi-incisors serrated with three or four coronal points, and the anterior point of the upper incisors not prolonged beyond the posterior spur, tipped with ferruginous; the lateral small teeth in the upper jaw are five in number, diminis.h.i.+ng in size from the first backwards. Tail cylindrical, not tapering, and furnished with a stiffish brush at the extremity. The common British land-shrew is of this type.

NO. 148. CORSIRA ALPINA.

_The Alpine Shrew_ (_Jerdon's No. 84_).

HABITAT.--Darjeeling.

DESCRIPTION.--Deep blackish brown, very slightly rufescent in certain lights; tail slender, nearly naked, very slightly attenuated, compressed at the tip.

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

This is identical with the European Alpine shrew; the _Sorex caudatus_ of Horsfield's Catalogue (No. 148), which was a specimen named by Hodgson, is also the same animal.

_GENUS ANUROSOREX_.

Remarkably for its large head, nude, scaly extremities, and extremely short, nude, scaly tail. "The structure of the ear, limbs and tail has special reference to a burrowing animal--the ear being valvular, so that it may be effectually closed against the entrance of foreign substances, and the feet devoid of hair, but scaly, and the tail reduced to very small dimensions. The eye is also excessively small, and buried deep in the dense silky fur. The hind feet, contrary to what is almost invariably the case in burrowing mammals, are larger than the fore feet."--_Anderson_.

NO. 149. ANUROSOREX a.s.sAMENSIS.

_The a.s.sam Burrowing Shrew_.

HABITAT.--a.s.sam, Thibet.

DESCRIPTION.--General colour dark slaty, faintly washed with brownish rusty on the long hairs of the rump; fur long and silky, longest over the rump; occasional long brown hairs with pale tips are scattered over the body; long whiskers, yellow claws; naked parts of snout, limbs and tail flesh-coloured.

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

The skull and dent.i.tion of this animal are essentially soricine. The Thibetan species (_A. squamipes_) is described as being over four inches in length, of a greyish colour, with a greenish-brown tinge; feet and nails whitish. It lives in burrows which it digs in the earth.