50 Seasonal Variations in British Animals. 



(Cervus Z)ama), whose white spots disappear with the annual 

 casting of its coat in autumn. 



II. Partial shedding of the coat takes place in those ani- 

 mals which acquire in autumn a covering of two different 

 kinds : one long, downy, and warm, which is shed in spring ; 

 the other short and glossy, which is retained. This change 

 of appearance is exemplified in the common water shrew 

 (Sorex fodiens), the short summer coat of which is much 

 blacker than the longer downy covering which conceals this 

 in winter. In this little animal the additional winter coat is 

 shed about the latter end of March, or beginning of April ; 

 and does not take place uniformly, but progressively, begin- 

 ning on the head, and ceasing at the hinder extremities ; and 

 exhibiting in its progress, throughout, a well-defined line of 

 separation. Animals which (as the British Mustelinae) have 

 two sorts of fur, the shorter of which is the more warm and 

 downy, do not undergo this change, but retain both sorts 

 throughout the year. In these the young have only one 

 kind, which is close and woolly ; as is well exemplified in the 

 common polecat (Putorius Furo), the young of which are 

 of a very uniform dark brown, and very unlike the old 

 animals. 



III. Actual change of colour in the coat itself is exhibited 

 in the appearance of the fallow deer's white spots in spring, 

 and in the case of the mountain hare (Xepus variabilis), which 

 is in summer grey, adapted to the hue of the lichens on which 

 it squats ; and in winter white, hardly to be discerned upon 

 the snow. The same change also takes place in the stoat or 

 ermine (Putorius ermineus), although this is doubted by Mr. 

 Berry (VII. 591.).* In mild winters, such as we have of 

 late experienced in the South of England, but few of the 

 stoats become white, and some of these not until the latter 

 part of the season. The change takes place quickly, but not 

 uniformly, the animal assuming for a short time a pied ap- 

 pearance ; but I have not succeeded in ascertaining whether it 

 is accelerated by sudden cold, as the animals are not always 

 to be seen exactly when we want them. One perfectly changed, 

 however, was seen in this neighbourhood soon after the one 

 or two days of very cold weather in the beginning of last 



* This gentleman should have mentioned, in his account of the white 

 stoats seen in summer, whether the tail was white or black. If the former, 

 thev were doubtless albinoes; if the latter, some constitutional debility may 

 have prevented them from resuming their natural hues. I have seen 

 white stoats late in March, but never after this. Both in these and in the 

 white ferret (a domestic albino variation of the polecat) a decided tinge of 

 yellow is always more or less noticeable. 



