Ground Vermin The Stoat. 233 



especially when the animal has donned its winter coat 

 (of which we shall speak presently). The " ermine weasel " 

 is another mode of referring to this change of colour in 

 the fur. " Stout " and " stat " are but corruptions, while 

 "black tail" refers to the animal's " terminal appendage." 

 " Greater weasel " is another name. To enumerate further 

 ones would be a considerable task to very little purpose, 

 for they are mostly employed in rural districts and limited 

 to the inhabitants of certain villages. 



Many people are ready to assert that there exists no 

 animal which, however destructive be its nature, has not 

 redeeming qualities. They would experience very great 

 difficulty in convincing the game preserver as to the use- 

 fulness of the polecat, weasel, stoat, &c., though, as to 

 the last named, the value of its fur, when known as 

 "ermine," they would no doubt advance with considerable 

 energy, and, as far as it goes, they would be correct. 

 But it is very doubtful if the stoat is worth preserving 

 in the British Isles on this account. That the stoat, 

 fetid, savage, and rapacious little animal as it is, should 

 provide the costly and regal fur known as ermine is 

 one of the many caprices incidental to the animal kingdom, 

 and one which is, we may say, the least widely known. 

 A popular error is to make a distinction between the 

 stoat and the ermine, as if such a paradox as a dis- 

 tinction between one and the same animal could exist, 

 but even now there are many very many, indeed 

 who are perfectly ignorant as to the identity of the 

 ermine and the stoat. Further, the word " ermine " is im- 

 mediately associated, as far as its habitat is concerned, 



