COLOUR IN BIRDS AND QUADRUPEDS. 233 



How far other quadrupeds, in a state of nature, are subject to this 

 biennial shedding of the hair, is an inquiry which we must make, not 

 from books, but from a careful examination of the different species. 

 The generally received opinion of quadrupeds shedding but once in a 

 year, should be more carefully examined, in regard to some of the spe- 

 cies, before it is fully adopted. The rule may admit of more excep- 

 tions than is generally supposed. The Deer {Cervus Virginianus) 

 sheds its hair in Carolina in the month of April, and sometimes earlier. 

 These, till autumn, are of a reddish colour, when the animal assumes 

 a bluish dress, gradually fading to gray. In what manner is this change 

 produced ? The Harvest Mouse (Mus leucophus, RafF.) is of a fawn 

 colour above in summer, and bluish ash in winter. The black variety 

 of the common Gray Squirrel (incorrectly referred to Sciurus Caro- 

 Knensis) is much more brilliantly black in winter than in summer. 

 Can these old and faded hairs receive an additional blackness and bright- 

 ness as the cold weather approaches ? The fur of quadrupeds is thicker 

 and warmer in winter than in summer, and if they do not shed their 

 hair, they must at last receive an additional covering in autumn ; and 

 the same effort of nature which can produce a part, may restore the 

 whole. Possibly it may, on a more careful examination, be found that 

 the new hairs received by these and other species in autumn, may so 

 predominate as to conceal in part the rest. I can easily conceive that 

 hairs may become redder, under the influence of a burning sun ; but 

 that they should, after six months, again change and become plumbeous, 

 cannot be credited, without a minute examination of facts. Our do- 

 mesticated animals can afford no criterion by which we may judge, 



by a dog. It was not again observed by the family for six months. On my return from a 

 college vacation, I once more occupied my former chamber. During the night I found some 

 small animal creeping among the blankets, and on procuring a light, ascertained to my great 

 surprise and pleasure, that my long lost pet had come, as if to greet my return. It had, in 

 the meantime, changed its colour, and was beautifully white. How long it had kept pos- 

 session of the vacant chamber is unknown. I perceived it had found egress through a hole in 

 the hearth. It was from this time no longer placed in confinement, but permitted to take its 

 own course, as it had committed no depredations on the poultry. It attached itself to the pre- 

 mises for about two years afterwards, having formed a large nest of straw under the covering 

 of a globe. In this situation it would sometimes lie for two or three days, as if dozing, and 

 disinclined to take exercise ; at other times it was absent for several days in succession. It 

 finally disappeared, from what cause I was never able to ascertain. 



