CHAMELEONS IN FUR AND FEATHER 29 



prove a disadvantage at times by making its owner 

 conspicuous when the ground is bare in winter, 

 as it frequently is even in the North ; yet though 

 weasels are about more or less by day, you will 

 seldom catch so much as a glimpse of one at such 

 times, though you may hear their sharp chirrup 

 close at hand. Though bold and fearless, they 

 have the power of vanishing instantly, and the 

 slightest alarm sends them to cover. I have seen 

 one standing within reach of my hand in the sun- 

 shine on the exposed root of a tree, and while I 

 was staring at it, it vanished like the flame of a 

 candle blown out, without leaving me the slightest 

 clue as to the direction it had taken. All the 

 weasels I have ever seen, either in the woods or 

 open meadows, disappeared in a similar manner. ' ' 

 To add to the completeness of proof that the 

 change from brown to white is for protection, — 

 in the case of the weasel, both to enable it to 

 escape from the fox and to circumvent the rabbit, 

 — the w T easels in Florida, where snow is unknown, 

 do not change colour, but remain brown through- 

 out the whole year. 



