WINTER DRESS 



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roundings in the greyish winter coat of a hart or a hare, on 

 the whole it is more in accordance with the faded vegetation 

 and the subdued light than the redder summer dress 

 would be. 



A far more complete and striking change of colour is 

 that of those animals and birds which put on a winter dress 

 of white. The commonest of them is the stoat, which in 

 winter becomes the ermine, and provides the well-known 

 white skin flecked with the black tuft on the end of the tail. 



A NEARLY WHITE STOAT 



The market is supplied with ermine skins from Russia and 

 northern Canada, where stoats abound and the winter change 

 of colour is universal. Britain lies in regions of a more 

 temperate winter climate, and the consequent modification of 

 the stoat's change of colour is very curious. In Scotland the 

 complete white winter dress is common, and in the south 

 of England it is rare. Between the two, over the greater 

 part of England, stoats are often found in winter with 

 irregularly blotched skins of summer red and winter white, 

 while many do not adopt the winter dress at all, and a few 

 are found with it complete. Ireland has a well-marked race 

 of stoats of its own, which are usually distinguished as a 

 separate species ; and these are said never to turn white, 

 owing to the greater mildness of the Irish climate. Besides 

 the normal influence of geographical position and climate, 



