CHANGES OF COATS 25 



Another old-time trap was the figure 4 trap, set with a 

 heavy stone or slate, which fell upon and instantly 

 killed its victim. These cumbersome and not always 

 reliable traps have passed from the woodlands, and 

 now the keeper merely slips a gin into the entrance of 

 a tunnel. This is made sometimes of earth and sticks, 

 or is a drain-pipe, or is made of three lengths of plank, 

 about a yard long and six inches wide. A hole in a 

 hedge-bank is a favourite place for the gin. These 

 tunnel traps are commonly set a few yards from the 

 end of a hedge, because stoats and weasels have a 

 weakness for cutting corners. 



c * c + + 



We have heard the suggestion many times that there 

 are two varieties of the common weasel, but think this 



is not the case. The mistake no doubt 

 of Coats ar i ses from the marked difference in size 



between the males and females ; the dog 

 weasel is twice or sometimes three times the size of 

 its sister, and is nearly as big as a small female stoat, 

 while the dog weasel's sister may be hardly larger than 

 a big mouse. Then the changes in the weasel's coat 

 are deceptive. In spring a rusty red fur takes the 

 place of the soft winter brown of the upper parts, while 

 the white under-parts turn to a yellow tone. The 

 ordinary brown of rats also changes to a striking rusty 

 red shade in spring. This is most obvious in the case 

 of rats living in burrows in soil, and often going short 

 of food, and the rusty fur is specially marked on rats 



