From Fox's Earth 



Were the hues to remain dark, the pursuer 

 would be seen by the pursued at a longer 

 distance away, and the chances of capture be 

 much lessened. The struggle for a living would 

 become harder, it may be beyond the line of 

 hunger to starvation. When by a process of 

 selection the coat becomes white, the balance is 

 restored. Once more has the pursuer a fair 

 chance of capture. 



Where snow lies, pursuer and pursued become 

 white; that is only fair. It is not so with the 

 rabbit ; which seems to show that the ermine has 

 come beyond his natural limits and is an inter- 

 loper, or that living forms are very much mixed 

 in this land of ours. 



The winter white may be meant to conceal 

 from enemies and give a fair chance of escape. 

 Easily seen, a dark object is easily captured. In 

 its turn pursuer is in the place of pursued. There 

 is something pathetic in this change of coat. It 

 shows what care Nature has of her own, how 

 catholic she is. With an infinite fair play she 

 colours alike ; both are her children. She is the 

 mother of sportsmen ; her training is robust. 

 Not that the stoat has many enemies, no weasel 

 has. It is powerful and dangerous out of all 

 proportion to its size. No enemy save man, who 

 will break in on the arrangement in his heed- 

 less way ; or women and lords, who have a use for 

 the fur. 



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