NATURE'S CALENDAR 



43 



have turned white now begin to resume 

 their brown summer wear. The time 

 when this change takes place depends 

 upon the comparative lateness of the 

 season, and upon latitude ; in Canada 

 and northern New England it will usu- 

 ally be postponed into mid-April. " It is 

 surprising," remarks W. E. Cram, "how 

 rapidly the ermine changes from white 

 to brown after the process is once be- 

 gun ; one that I caught in a trap re- 

 cently showed the transformation nearly 

 complete, the back being of a peculiar 

 shade of reddish buflf with only one or 

 two little spots of pure white fur, while 

 the sides w^ere thickly sprinkled with long 

 white hairs, which were already detached 

 from the skin and constantly shedding. 

 The tail was divided into three distinct 

 sections of color, black at the tip for 

 about an inch, as in winter, then white 

 for the same distance, and brown next 

 the body. The white of the tail was con- 

 fined to the long, coarse hairs overlying 

 the soft under- fur, which was already 

 brown. The feet were still white, like 

 the under surface of the body and throat, 

 which remain so throughout the season. 

 . . . The new brown fur must have 

 grown out with great rapidity, for it was 

 then about as long as it ever would be. 



" In fact, I am not yet fully convinced 

 that it was new fur, but rather the old 

 under-fur of the last winter turned brown, 

 and that only the long over-hair is shed 



March 12 



March 13 



