THE NORTHERN HARE. 27 



Waterhouse* is of opinion that the white of the winter 

 coat is not always due to change of colour only, but in 

 some cases, as in the present instance, is accompanied by 

 a partial shedding of the summer fur. Sir J. Richardson, 

 however, attributes it entirely to a lengthening and 

 blanching of the summer coat, but is of opinion that the 

 change in beginning of summer consists in the winter 

 coat falling off during the growth of the new fur. This 

 can only be decided by examination of specimens at both 

 seasons in their transition state. 



The winter coat is gradually assumed in November, 

 the head and shoulders being the last parts of the body 

 to change their colour, and it remains unaltered until 

 April, when it is shed. The young are later at both 

 seasons in changing than the old ones are. 



Dekay,f among other writers, affirms that this 

 change of colour does not take place in the Northern 

 Hare at all, and I have a letter now before me from 

 Canada, in which the writer, a known sportsman, also 

 states that it does not turn white. This contradiction 

 may probably be explained by the fact that the change 

 is dependent on the effect of climate as influenced by 

 latitude. The animals in the States, doubtless, as Dr. 

 Dekay says, undergo no change whatever, while those 



* Nat. Hist. Mam. t Fauna of New York. 



