28 THE LOG OF THE SUN 



and whatever the colour of the weasel's coat, — 

 brown or white, — the tip of the tail remains 

 always black. This would seem, at first thought, 

 a very bad thing for the little animal. Knowing 

 so little of fear, he never tucks his tail between 

 his legs, and, when shooting across an open 

 expanse of snow, the black tip ever trailing after 

 him would seem to mark him out for destruction 

 by every observing hawk or fox. 



But the very opposite is the case as Mr. Witmer 

 Stone so well relates. "If you place a weasel in 

 its winter white on new-fallen snow, in such a 

 position that it casts no shadow, you will find that 

 the black tip of the tail catches your eye and holds 

 it in spite of yourself, so that at a little distance 

 it is very difficult to follow the outline of the rest 

 of the animal. Cover the tip of the tail with snow 

 and you can see the rest of the weasel itself 

 much more clearly; but as long as the black 

 point is in sight, you see that, and that only. 



"If a hawk or owl, or any other of the larger 

 hunters of the woodland, were to give chase to a 

 weasel and endeavour to pounce upon it, it would 

 in all probability be the black tip of the tail it 

 would see and strike at, while the weasel, darting 

 ahead, would escape. It may, morever, serve as 

 a guide, enabling the young weasels to follow their 

 parents more readily through grass and brambles. 



"One would suppose that this beautiful white 

 fur of winter, literally as white as the snow, might 



