228 OBSERVATIONS ON THE CHANGES OF 



have also had an opportunity of w^itnessing, in a warren. It cast its 

 hair in spring, and became of a yellowish brown colour. In the au- 

 tumn it again commenced shedding. Whether all of the hair dropped 

 off or not I cannot say with positive certainty; new hairs, however, 

 were continually adding; the points of these were white, as they came 

 forward. In the old hairs I could perceive no change. There were 

 many black ones interspersed, but whether these were of a new, or of 

 a former growth, I had no means of ascertaining. I felt confident, 

 however, that the light colour of winter was produced by the new 

 hairs it had received in autumn. This Hare has, by some of our au- 

 thors, been described as becoming white in winter. It should be ob- 

 served, however, that the points of the hairs are so narrowly tipped 

 with white, and the markings of brown and cinereous still so visible, 

 that it can in no part of the northern United States be described as 

 white. 



Lepus palustris, Marsh Hare. For a description of this species, see 

 Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences, vol. VII., and an engrav- 

 ing in Audubon's Birds of America, vol. IV., pi. 366. This singular 

 and almost aquatic species sheds its hair twice a year, as I have had an 

 opportunity of ascertaining from having had one in confinement. Al- 

 though much hair dropped off in autumn, I found it, however, difficult 

 to satisfy myself that this change was as thorough as that in the spring. 

 In the beginning of winter, the points of its hair, instead of growing 

 whiter, as in the American Hare, grow darker, until they have become 

 nearly black, thus proving that the effort of nature is to change the co- 

 lours from brown to pure white, in some species, and to black in others. 



Mustela erminea,* The Ermine. This animal, usually called 



* Godman has stated, on the authority of Charles L. Bonaparte (Nat. Hist. vol. L, p. 193), 

 that our common Weasel (M. vulgaris) has been proved to be the Ermine in summer pelage. 

 I had an opportunity of ascertaining, from actual examination, that there is some inaccuracy 

 in this statement. I preserved several of both species in the same cage, during a winter, in 

 the northern partof Ssfew York. The Ermines became white in autumn, although some of 

 them were still young, and not more than two-thirds grown. The other species retained 

 through the winter their brown colour. Richardson states that the latter species also becomes 

 white in high northern latitudes. This is certainly not the case in lat. 45°. Tliere is another 

 peculiarity which I had occasion to notice. Whilst the Ermine is much abroad during win- 

 ter, its footprints appearing every where on the snow, the common Weasel is rarely, if at all, 

 seen during that period. A large brood that had made the root of a tree their residence in 



