Sucklers. 9647 



itself just behind the latter; a narrow grayish brown streak likewise 

 appeared down the entire centre of its back. A second individual 

 similar to this latter was killed on the Rackheath estate, about a mouth 

 previous to the occurrence of the variety of the common hare that is 

 recorded above from the same locality. 



T. E. GuNN. 



Norwich, May, 1865. 



Notes on Quadrupeds of Lanarkshire. 

 By Edward R. Alston, Esq. 



Stoat or Ermine. — This is our commonest weasel, being decidedly 

 more plentiful than the little Mustek vulgaris, while the polecat or 

 foumart appears now to be quite extinct in the neighbourhood. The 

 change of colour in this animal seems to be influenced by a very slight 

 difference of temperature, for the white specimens which are taken 

 here in winter are almost invariably killed on the moors and exposed 

 ground, while those caught in the glens and sheltered plantations are 

 all more or less mottled with brown. I have taken some trouble to 

 place this fact beyond doubt, and have kept notes on it for three or 

 four winters. Some change more readily than others; two were trapped 

 at the same hole this winter, one of which was almost perfectly white, 

 while the other was about "half and half." The nape of the neck, 

 about the nose, and a patch on the shoulders, seem to be the last parts 

 to lose the summer hue: in some specimens the longer hairs are the 

 first to change, in others the inner fur. Some skins have a strong 

 yellowish tint, especially about the fore quarters ; this remains even 

 after all the brown has disappeared, whereas others are beautifully 

 pure in tint, although retaining large patches of the darker colour. 



Habits of the Weasel Tribe. — These animals are popularly supposed 

 to kill their prey by sucking the blood from one of the principal 

 arteries, or by penetrating the spinal chord at a single bite. Mr. S. 

 Woodcock, of Bury, Lancashire, opposed this opinion in a most 

 interesting letter in 'The Field,' of the 27th of December, 1862, and 

 my own observations tend to confirm his views. In the case of large 

 animals, as rabbits and leverets, the mode of attack is by worrying 

 and tugging at the skin of the head and neck, the assailant frequently 

 changing his gripe, and not retaining his first hold as has been stated ; 

 and death seems to be caused more by " exhaustion and the shock to 



