54 



MAMMALS. 



Change of 

 coat. 



size of the last, yet often confounded in parts of York- 

 shire.^ 



The most interesting point in connection with this 

 member of the tribe is its seasonal change of coat. In 

 Stoat or summer-time, when it is known in the Fen 

 Ermine. Country as " lobster," its coat is reddish- 

 brown ; in winter, however, this is replaced (whether by 

 fresh growth or by actual colour-change in the fur itself 

 was long a disputed point) by almost uniform 

 white, only the extreme tip of the tail retain- 

 ing its blackness. It is now generally ad- 

 mitted that this protective colouring is brought about by 

 the growth of new fur, and not, as formerly averred, by 



the effect of the 

 fall in temperature 

 on the colour of its 

 summer coat. The 

 change is observed 

 to be less complete 

 in the milder win- 

 ters of our south- 

 ern counties, there 

 being permanent 

 dark patches about the head and back. In autumn, there 

 is an intermediate pied stage. 



Unfortunately for the beast, the mingled black-and-white 

 fur has long been in special demand for the linings of State 

 robes ; and though the fur, even in Highland 

 examples, of our ermines is not of sufficient 

 beauty for the market, in Northern Europe and Asia the 

 little animals are persecuted wholesale, their pursuit having 

 led to the opening up of a deal of the interior of Siberia. 

 The stoat is an unmitigated nuisance in the hen-house 

 and game-preserve. It is an accomplished 

 swimmer, and its movements on land, includ- 

 ing the sideling leaps so characteristic of the family to which 



1 Eagle-Clarke and Roebuck, Yorkshire Vertebrata, p. 7. 



Fur. 



As vermin. 



