THE WEASEL. 449 



yards and farm-buildings, wood-stacks and old hedge-banks, 

 where there is plenty of thick undergrowth. On the 3rd January, 

 after a sharp frost the previous night, we found a Weasel lying 

 dead and frozen on a fallow field, where, prompted to hunt by 

 hunger, it had succumbed to the severe weather. 



Although in this country the Weasel does not turn white in 

 winter like the Stoat, it does so in the north of Europe, and in 

 its white garb is the Mustela nivalis of Linnaeus. Occasionally 

 albino specimens have been met with, but must be considered 

 rare. 



In ' The Zoologist ' for 1866 (p. 384) Mr. T. E. Gunn reported 

 the capture of an albino Weasel in Norfolk, and in the volume 

 for 1868 (p. 1186) Mr. Cordeaux stated that " a white Weasel, 

 probably an albino, had taken up its quarters in an oat-stack in 

 his yard." In 1879, the late Mr. Gurney, of Northrepps Hall, 

 Norwich, mentioned one which was killed there in Nov. 1878, 

 " evidently assuming a white winter coat, a circumstance which 

 is very rare in the Weasel, though not uncommon in the Stoat. 

 The front and sides of the head were already quite white, and 

 white hairs were appearing amongst the brown ones in all those 

 parts of the animal which are normally brown, and especially on 

 the flanks and tail " (Zool. 1879, p. 30). On Sept. 27th, of the 

 same year, the late Mr. F. Bond obtained " a pure white Weasel, 

 full grown, a true albino with pink eyes. It was killed by a dog 

 in Soham Fen, Cambridgeshire" (Zool. J 879, p. 455). 



In 1884, Mr. J. J. Brigg, of Kildwick, near Leeds, reported the 

 capture, in the latter part of November of that year, of " a Weasel 

 perfectly white, including the tail, and the eyes a dull pink " 

 (' The Field,' 5th Jan., 1884) ; and in Oct. J 889, Mr. Corbin, of 

 Ringwood, saw a perfectly white Weasel, which had been caught 

 by a man cutting faggots in the New Forest. It proved to be a 

 male, and a true albino with pink eyes (Zool. 1889, p. 449). 

 In addition to these, we have seen in the collection of Mr. Borrer, 

 of Cowfold, near Horsham, a pure white Weasel which was killed 

 at Willoughby, in Leicestershire, during the winter of 1867. 



Referring to the change of colour which takes place in the 

 Stoat in winter, Bell states (Brit. Quad., 2nd ed., p. 196), that 

 " this is effected not by the loss of the summer coat, and the 

 substitution of a new one for the winter, but by the actual change 

 of colour in the existing fur." On the other hand, the late 



