PUTORIUS ERMINKA. 6 I 



"We soon raced a rabbit to its hole, . . ." and the Ermine "al- 

 though we had captured the individual but a few days before, entered 

 readily; but having- his jaws at liberty, it killed the rabbit. Relin- 

 quishing the Weasel to our man, he afterwards filed its teeth down to 

 prevent it from destroying the rabbits; and when thus rendered harm- 

 less, the Ermine pursued the rabbits to the bottom of their holes, and 

 terrified them so that they instantly fled to the entrance and were 

 taken alive in the hand; and although they sometimes scrambled up 

 some distance in a hollow tree, their active and persevering little foe 

 followed them, and instantly forced them down. In this manner the 

 man procured twelve rabbits alive in the course of one morning, and 

 more than fifty in about three weeks, when we requested him to de- 

 sist." '^ 



Concerning the Change in Color in the Ermine. 



It is eminently proper that a subject which has attracted so much 

 attention, and occasioned so much controversy, as the seasonal change 

 in color in this and other species, should receive, in the present con- 

 nection, the consideration that its importance demands. Audubon 

 and Bachman, who observed the spring moult in an individual kept 

 in confinement, give, with much detail, full notes (taken at the time) 

 concerning the progress and nature of the change, as it advanced 

 from day to day. The result of their observations is thus stated : 

 "As far as our observations have enabled us to form an opinion on 

 this subject, we have arrived at the conclusion, that the animal sheds 

 its coat twice a year, /. r., at the periods when these semi-annual 

 changes take place. In autumn, the summer hair gradually and almost 

 imperceptibly drops out, and is succeeded by a fresh coat of hair, 

 which in the course of two or three weeks becomes pure white; while 

 in the spring the animal undergoes its change from white to brown 

 in consequence of shedding its winter coat, the new hairs then coming 



* Quadrupeds of North America, Vol. I, 1846, pp. 177-178. 



