450 OBSERVATIONS, &c. 



stag that has haunted Hartley Wood for so long a time. 

 Many hundreds of people, horse and foot, attended the dogs to 

 see the deer unharboured ; but though the huntsman drew 

 Hartley Wood, and Long Coppice, and Shrubwood, and 

 Temple Hangers, and in their way back Hartley and Ward le 

 ham Hangers, yet no stag could be found. 



The royal pack, accustomed to have the deer turned out 

 before them, never drew the coverts with any address and 

 spirit, as many people that were present observed ; and this 

 remark the event has proved to be a true one. For as a 

 person was lately pursuing a pheasant that was wing-broken 

 in Hartley Wood, he stumbled upon the stag by accident, and 

 ran in upon him as he lay concealed amidst a thick brake of 

 brambles and bushes. WHITE. 



[STOAT. 



The stoat or ermine, Mustela erminea, is not unfrequently 

 found at Selborne in severe winters, partially changed to the 

 white condition which it assumes wholly in northern climates, 

 where it furnishes the valuable ermine fur. Several pied spe- 

 cimens have been brought to me ; and an intelligent labourer, 

 whose habits of life formerly gave him greater opportunity of 

 observing the ferce naturd than would be strictly legal, assures 

 me that he has repeatedly seen the stoat in its white dress. I 

 find the following statement in my notes, dated February 

 1870 : " The woodcutters on Selborne Hill told me that they 

 have lately seen many stoats in the wood, and not one which 

 was not more or less marked with white." It would be inter- 

 esting to ascertain how far south this change has been observed. 

 Mr. Couch states that he ,1ms seen it in Cornwall (see Brit. 

 Quad. 2nd ed. p. 196). T. B.] 



