THE STOAT. 307 
truth of this singular phenomenon, as I have frequently seen a person whose hair was 
changed in a single night from dark to erey by sudden grief and terror, and the whole 
sy stem fatally de ranged at the same time. 
In this country, where the lowest temperature is considerably above that of the 
ordinary wintry degrec s, the Stoat is very uncertain in its change of fur, and seems to 
yield to or to resist the effects of the co ld weather ace ording to the individuality of the 
particular animal. 
In the autumn, when the Stoat is beginning to assume its wintry dress, and in the 
spring, when it is beginning to lose the snowy mantle of the wintry months, the fur is 
generally found to be marked with irregular patches of dark and white spots, the sides of 
the face a appearing to be especially variable in this respect. Sometimes the animal resists 
the coldest winters, and retains its dark fur throughout the severest weather, and it 
sometimes happens that a Stoat will change its fur even though the winter should be 
particularly mild. My. Thompson records, im his work on the ae History of Ireland, 
that he saw a Stoat which was captured on the 27th of January, 1846, which was 
STOAT, OR ERMINE (Summer Coat).—Mustéla Evminea 
wholly white, with the exception of a brown patch on each side of its face. Yet the 
winter had been remarkably mild, without any frost or snow, although there had been 
abundance of rain and storms. Two white Stoats were killed in Ayrshire, in 1839, which 
were almost entirely white, though the frosts had been extremely mild, and the snow had 
altogether been absent. 
‘As, in the former of these examples, the weather is said to have been extremely wet, 
t may be presumed that the moisture of the atmosphere and eround may have some 
connexion with the whitening of the hair. On account of the better radiating powers of 
dark substances, the dew and general moisture is always found to be deposited i in greater 
quantity on dark or dull, than on white or polished substances. Any one may vasily 
prove this fact, by watching the effects of the dew on a white and a red rose growing in 
close proximity to each other. 2 
The Stoat is considerably larger than the weasel, measuring rather more than fourteen 
inches in total length, of which the tail oce upies rather more than four inches. There 1s, 
however, consider able difference in the size of various individuals. 
It is a most determined hunter, pursuing its game with such pertinacious skill that 
it very seldom permits its intended prey to escape. 
Although toler rably swift of foot, it is entirely unable to cope with the great speed of 
