24 The Field Naturalist s Quarterly Feb. 



beast not much bigger than a field-mouse, but much longer, 

 which they call a Cane." There seems little doubt that this 

 is merely the female Weasel, which is often considerably 

 smaller than the male, and not another species. This, how- 

 ever, does not seem to be the case with the Assorgue (Mustcla 

 hibemicus) , which, as the name implies, is an inhabitant of 

 Erin. Photographs of it will be found in ' Natural Science ' 

 (vol. vi. Plate iv., 1901). Its size is intermediate between 

 that of the Stoat and the Weasel, but while it retains the 

 black tip to its tail of the former, it has much more brown 

 about the belly, and may clearly claim to be a different 

 species. 



I have written these few remarks on the Weasel tribe, not 

 in any way as being final, but with a view of provoking 

 others with fuller knowledge to write more. On one point 

 in particular it would be interesting to have evidence, and 

 that is the strange sort of paralysis that comes over a hare 

 when a stoat gets on its track. 



The Woodland in March. 



By W. Percival Westell, M.B.O.U. 



The pleasure of country-life — that is, so far as observing 

 the various changes of the landscape and the close study of 

 the wild life through each period of the year — is considerably 

 enhanced if the observer makes a point of seeing Nature 

 under as many aspects as possible : it is only by rambling 

 religiously throughout the duller months that one can appre- 

 ciate to the full the advent of spring and then the glow of 

 summer. 



The woodland in March — that is, if the weather be at all 

 springlike, such as the morning of which I write — gives 

 evidence on every side of the approach of spring. On the 

 2nd of March 1902 Dog's Mercury was in flower and the 

 Green Hellebore well above ground and the flower -buds 

 prominent : both these are two of the earliest of the wood- 

 land's spring flowers ; whilst several days previously the 



