460 The Common Weasel. 



" In consequence of the months of December, 1 831, and Janu- 

 ary, 1832, having been so extremely mild, I was," says Mr. Hogg, 

 " greatly surprised to find this stoat clothed in his winter fur ; 

 and the more so, because I had seen about three weeks or a month 

 before, a stoat in its summer coat or brown fur. I was therefore 

 naturally led to consider whether the respective situations which 

 the brown and white stoats seen by me this warm winter inhabi- 

 ted, could alone account for the difference of the colour of their 

 fur, in any clear and satisfactory manner. The situation then 

 where the Brown Stoat was seen, is in nearly 54° 32' N. lat., 1° 

 19' W. long,, upon a plain elevated a very few feet above the 

 level of the river Tees, in the county of Durham. Again, the 

 place where I met with the Ermine, or White Stoat, on the 23rd 

 of January, 1832, is in the North Riding of Yorkshire, in nearly 

 54'' 12^ N. lat., 1° 13^ W. long. ; it is situated at a very conside- 

 rable elevation, and in the immediate neighbourhood of the lofty 

 moorlands called the Hambledon Hills. These constitute the 

 south-western range of the Cleveland Hills, which rise in height 

 from 1100 feet to 1200 feet above the sea. At the time, the Er- 

 mine was making his way towards the hills, where, no doubt, he 

 lived, or frequently haunted ; and consequently the great coldness 

 of the atmosphere, even in so mild a winter, upon so elevated and 

 bleak a spot as that moorland, would satisfactorily account for 

 the appearance of the animal in its white fur ; although the place 

 is, in a direct line, more than 23 miles distant to the south of the 

 fields near the Tees, inhabited by the Brown Stoat." 



The Ermine-Weasel, the length of whose head and body is 9 

 inches 10 lines, the tail being 4 inches 8 lines, is the Carlwm of 

 the Welsh ; Stoat, Stout, and greater Weasel of the English ; 

 L'Hermine and Le Roselet of the French ; Armellino of the Ital- 

 ians ; Armino and Armelina of the Spanish ; Hermelin of the 

 Germans ; Hermelin and Lekatt of the Swedes ; Hermilyn of the 

 Dutch; Hermelin and Lekat of the Danes; Seegoos and Sha- 

 cooshew of the Cree Indians ; and Terreeya of the Esquimaux. 



The Ermine is found generally in temperate Europe, but com- 

 mon only in the north. The finest, that is, those with the longest 

 and thickest fur, and of the purest and brightest colour, are im- 

 ported from the high latitudes. Russia, Norway, Sweden, Siberia 

 and Lapland, furnish them abundantly. The British importation, in 

 1833, was 105,139 ; and 187,000. In America it is found from 

 the most northern limits to the middle districts of the United 



