158 STOAT OR ERMINE. 



I have generally found to be smaller than the 

 females. The following are the principal dimen- 

 sions of four individuals : 



M. M. F. F. 



Entire Length 15 14f 15 17| 



Length of head 2 If 2 2 



Length of neck 2 2 2 2 



Length of body 7 6J 6} 8 



Length of tail ....5 4 4 6 



Height at shoulder 3$ 3 3 4 



The hairs at the tip of the tail, included in these 

 measurements, vary from an inch and a half to nearly 

 *\wo inches. 



The fur, as in the other species of the genus, is 

 of two kinds, both of which are in this white during 

 winter, unless occasionally when the weather is 

 mild, especially in the southern parts of Britain, or 

 m the lower districts. The colour, however, is not 

 ^ure white, being tinged with yellow, scarcely percep- 

 tible on the head, but increasing in intensity toward 

 the tail, the hind parts of some individuals being 

 pale yellow. So early as the end of March, and 

 the beginning of April, if the weather be mild, the 

 colour of the upper parts changes to a dull brown- 

 ish-red, but the lower remain white, and the black 

 hairs of the extremity of the tail are of the same 

 tint at all seasons. This change is not effected by 

 an alteiation in the colour of the same hairs, but by 

 the gradual substitution of brown for white hairs. 

 A male, killed on the 30th March, has on the head, 



