WEASELS 



had any snow whatever. An ermine under such 

 circumstances must find its white coat undesirably 

 conspicuous ; but I have never so much as caught 

 a ghmpse of one at such times, though we often 

 have whole weeks together, even in mid-winter, 

 when the woods are practically free from snow. 



Yet the change to white seems to be as com- 

 plete here, and of almost the same duration, as 

 about Hudson's Bay, for example ; though only 

 about two hundred miles to the south of us they 

 are said seldom to turn white at all. 



And this peculiarity seems to be just as clearly 

 defined geographically in the Old World, — in 

 Scotland, for instance, the change is said to be 

 complete ; while in England, especially in the 

 more southern districts, white specimens are of 

 rare occurrence, though piebald and parti-coloured 

 specimens are not uncommon in winter. 



And now to go back to the long-tailed weasel. 

 The different works which I have consulted 

 agree in placing the eastern limit of this species at 



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