254 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



entomological rambles in the dusk of evening, sitting down near a dense 

 furze-brake. I had not been long seated before I heard a rustling close at 

 hand, and turning round saw within a few yards of my feet an old Stoat 

 and several young ones. It was very amusing to watch them at play ; their 

 active movements and sharp turnings, accompanied by a self-satisfied and 

 happy sound between a purr and a chirp, was an experience not easily 

 forgotten. On this occasion I am sure there were eight, if not nine, young 

 in the litter. On another occasion a friend of mine was out with his gun 

 and saw a Stoat with a young one in its month hastening to an old tree-stump 

 in an hedge-bank. He shot it just before it reached its goal, and on going 

 forward to pick it up was surprised to see several other young ones issuing 

 from a hole in the bank near their dead parent. He stood at some little 

 distance, and by uttering a chirping sound he drew forth six more young 

 ones, all of which he killed. Last season a gamekeeper told me he had 

 found a nest of young Stoats with a litter of ten ; I thought perhaps in that 

 case two litters might have been associating together. An accident that 

 occurred at the end of May, however, set the matter at rest in my own mind. 

 A gravid female Stoat having been found dead in a trap was sent to me, and 

 curiosity led me to open the uterus, when I found that it contaiued no less 

 than eleven well-formed young which would have shortly seen daylight. 

 This may have been, and undoubtedly was, an unusual case of fecundity 

 with the species, which both surprised and interested me ; for, on the other 

 hand, I have been informed on pretty reliable authority that sometimes a 

 litter consists of but three young ones ; so that it may be said to vary from 

 two to twelve, which seems an extraordinary variation in a truly wild animal. 

 On referring to ' The Royal Natural History,' now in course of publication, 

 I observe that the late Prof. Bell is credited with the statement that the 

 number of young is five; but that Dr. Coues states the number may vary 

 from a pair to a dozen, although five or six may be taken as the average ; 

 still personal observations from readers of 'The Zoologist' would be 

 interesting. In the work above named the statement as to the change of 

 colour of the Stoat in winter is, I think, scarcely correct, as it is said to 

 " always take place in the Highlands of Scotland ; but proceeding further 

 south the change becomes more and more rare, only occasionally taking 

 place in counties like Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire, while in Cornwall 

 and Hampshire it is almost unknown." I cannot speak from experience of 

 localities farther south or west, but in this part of Hampshire the change of 

 colour takes place in a greater or less degree every winter, instances of 

 which I have from time to time recorded in the pages of this Journal, and 

 it is certain that an intensity of cold is not required to produce the change, 

 for during the last extraordinary mild winter I saw two or three parti- 

 coloured individuals, and one which was wholly white, except the head, and 

 of course the characteristic black tip to its tail. — G. B. Corbin (Ringvvood). 



