36 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 



GENUS PUTORIUS. Cuvier. 



Form and habits of the preceding. Head sub-globose. Muzzle short and blunt. Body 

 highly vermiform. Neck very long. Tail long, cylindrical, not bushy. Cheek teeth j%. 

 ,< All with a musky odor. Nocturnal. 



THE NEW- YORK ERMINE. 



PUTORIDS NOVEBORACENSIS. 



PLATE XII. FIG. 2, Wi.vTEK DBEss. — PLATE XIV. FIG. 2, Summer dress. — (STATE COLLECTION.) 



Stoat Weasel. PkNN. Arct. Zool. Vol. 1, p. 75. 

 •■ Muslela erminea. Harlan, Fauna Am. p. 62. 

  .The Ermine Weasel. GoDMAK, Am. Nat. Hist. Vol. 1, p. 193, fig. 1, winter dress. Id. ib. Vol.1, p. 093, pi. fig. 2, 

 summer dress. 

 Putorivs noveboracensis. Report N. Y. Survey, 1840, p. 18. E.MMONS, Mass. Report, 1840, p. 45. 



Characteristics. Summer, reddish brown above, yellowish beneath ; winter, white. Tip of 

 the tail black. Length 16-24 inches. 



Description. Neck and body long and slender. Forehead convex. Whiskers numerous, 

 a few extending as far as the ears. Eyes small, black and lively, 0*7 distant from the 

 nose. Ears low, broad and rounded, 0-5 high, not entirely surrounding the auditory canal, 

 which is covered with long hair; on the margin, the hairs are sparse and short. Legs 

 short, robust, five-toed, the inner much the shortest. In winter, the sharp curved claws 

 and the soles covered with hair. Six abdominal and ventral teats. Fur short and soft, some- 

 what coarser and longer on the hairy tail, which is bushy at the end. Teeth thirty-four, as 

 in P. vison. 



Color. In summer the head, neck and body chesnut brown above, darker behind, and in- 

 creasing in intensity along the tail to the tip. This brown color extends along the flanks, and 

 the external parts of the extremities. Chin whitish, passing into yellowish white. A whitish 

 stripe commencing at the chin, expanding a little on the throat towards the ears, broader over 

 the breast, covering the interior and upper part of the fore legs, preserves nearly the same 

 breadth along the belly, and terminates on the tipper and inner part of the thighs. This color 

 is separated along its course from the brown above by a well defined irregular line, which 

 is occasionally dark brown. This is the ordinary state of the fur during summer, which it 

 often retains late in autumn, and, as I have reason to believe, often through the winter. My 

 friend Mr. Linsley has a specimen, which is " entirely rufous black, with two white spots 

 " under the throat ; lower jaw white from the point to the rictus." In its complete winter 

 coat, it is pure white along the back, light sulphur yellow along the sides . and beneath, 

 including the legs. Tail jet black at the tip. 



