68 



WILD LIFE IX NEW ZEALAND. 



exception of the tip of the tail, which always remains black pun- 

 white, tinged here and there with sulphur-yellow. Intermediate 

 states between full winter dress and full summer dress are often 

 found." In winter, when the fur is white, the animal is known 

 as the ermine, and white stoats are well known in winter in the 

 South Island. The favourite food of the stoat consists of rats 



KM;. 10.- Tin: STOAT. 



and mice, hut it is fond of birds, and thus is a danger in a 

 poultry-yard. It occasionally attacks lambs. These creatures 

 seem often to kill for the mere sake of killing. In my hoyhoi.d 

 days I at one time kept a large number of rabbits in an enelosure. 

 One night a stoat got in and killed the whole lot over a d< 

 and left each with a hole in the hack of its head. These animals 

 are fairlv abundant over New Zealand at th. pn-sent time. 



