CHANGES IN THE COLORATION OF THE PINE MARTEN 211 



long outer hairs. These latter are much more soft and silky 

 than those of the summer coat, and not so deep in colour, so 

 that the new autumn coat is not nearly as dark as the first 

 summer phase, being a lovely brown, deepening into a rich 

 chocolate on the limbs and stomach. At this stage the 

 throat has again become yellow, a rich colour approaching 

 orange, and the whole animal is extremely beautiful, having 

 now a thick brush-like tail, and such a thick coat as to make 

 it appear twice its former size and seem much " shorter on 

 the leg" than it was in its thin summer pelage. No stuffed 

 specimen can give any idea of the extreme beauty of the 

 creature in its full winter coat, with its intelligent face, 

 squirrel-like grace and activity, and its exquisite fur. The 

 tail is now very thick and full, but of a flattened shape like 

 that of a squirrel and not a round brush such as that of the 

 fox. The whole appearance of the animal betokens a tree- 

 climber, and bears witness that its present confinement in 

 Great Britain to barren fells and mountains is due to no 

 choice of its own. 



The phase just described hardly lasts through October, 

 for no sooner is the new fur exposed to light than it begins 

 to fade, the extremely fugitive yellow of the throat disappear- 

 ing in a week or two. By November the whole coat is 

 noticeably lighter, being browner in tint, and as the winter 

 wears on, the bleaching becomes more noticeable, until when 

 the spring comes the fur is a faded yellowish-brown. The 

 first week in April brings the spring moult. It begins 

 round the eyes and muzzle, where the new coat shows 

 as black marks, giving the Marten a very curious aspect, as 

 if wearing spectacles and a nose cap. The patchwork 

 appearance gets more pronounced as the weeks go by ; 

 however, May finds the head, neck, and feet free from old 

 fur, but some left on the body and brush, where it appears 

 quite yellow by contrast with the new dark coat. The last 

 of this bleached body-coat has usually disappeared by early 

 June, but a few long hairs may be retained in the tail through- 

 out the summer, clearly demonstrating the action of light on 

 the colour, for they become almost white. When considering 

 the great change the Pine Marten undergoes in the course 



