THE STOAT, OR ERMINE. 99 



of distinction are, that the head of the stoat is broader in pro- 

 portion to its length, and the tail longer, more bushy, and tipped 

 with black. The upper part of the head, neck, and body, and 

 more than half of the tail, are light reddish brown j the under 

 parts white, slightly tinged with yellow j the edges of the ears 

 and the ends of the toes are yellowish white. Such is the de- 

 scription of this species when in that garb by which it is known as 

 the stoat ; but when it has been long exposed to the action of cold, 

 either from its choosing to inhabit bleak mountainous localities, 

 or from its being overtaken by a severe winter, the whole of the 

 fur becomes white, with a slight tinge of yellow, except the end 

 of the tail which retains its black colour. Towards the end of 

 autumn, and in the beginning of spring, its fur presents a pied 

 or mottled appearance, owing to the transitions which the 

 variations of temperature are then affecting in its colour. In 

 its lighter coat it is called the ermine, and its fur is then most 

 prized, and especially if obtained in a very cold northern climate, 

 in which case the hairs are not only longer and thicker, but of a 

 purer and brighter colour. It is not strictly correct to say that 

 the stoat changes to white at the period we assign to the winter, 

 whether it be cold or otherwise, for during mild winters, hardly 

 deserving of the name, only a few stoats become white, and some 

 of those not until the latter part of the season. Mr. Henry 

 Berry, of Bootle, near Liverpool, says he has seen ermines " in 

 every season of the year, on what are called the Mosses, on the 

 western coast of Lancashire ; and says that while resident in 

 Worcestershire, a week seldom passed without his observing an 

 ermine which used to emerge from a coppice and excite much 

 attention by its singular practice of invariably pursuing its 

 course over a gate-post, which stood in a fence in front of the 

 house. Stoats abounded in the same neighbourhood, and were 

 captured at all seasons and always of the same [reddish brown] 

 colour."* Mr. Blyth thinks that the ermines alleged to have 

 been seen in summer were albino varieties with white tails, or 

 else had been prevented by constitutional debility from resuming 



* Mag. Nat. Hut. (1834), vol. vii. p. 591. 



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