782 Quadrupeds. 



was either partial or entire : one was perfectly white, save the black 

 extremity of the tail, and the yellowish tinge of the under parts ; the 

 heads of two others retained the summer brown ; and three or four 

 more were mottled. I am disposed to agree with those naturalists 

 who consider this change to take place very rapidly on a sudden fall 

 of temperature. Two individuals which have come into my posses- 

 sion, recently killed, and partly changed, occurred after two nights of 

 severe and sudden frost, the weather previously having been remark- 

 ably mild. 



The stoat is sometimes grievously annoyed by ticks. Walking one 

 day last w r inter on the border of Pan Common, I observed a stoat 

 hunting the bank of one of the cuts, or drains. At the distance of 

 between thirty or forty yards, I could distinguish that the head and 

 shoulders of the creature w r ere spotted. This unusual appearance 

 induced me to shoot it, and on examination, I found the head, ears, 

 shoulders, and centre of the back, thickly studded with bloated ticks; 

 and the entire skin was covered with the scars of their bites ; so 

 much so, that I doubt w 7 hether the animal retained one half of its fur. 



Gamekeepers are, doubtless, right in considering the stoat in the 

 light of an enemy ; but I question much if the farmers be wise in 

 joining in their destruction. That they are not so in destroying the 

 weasel I feel convinced. It would be wiser in them to preserve it ; 

 for it is but seldom that the weasel carries off either chick or duckling, 

 while its daily occupation throughout the year is the keeping down 

 the farmers' real pest, the mouse. I think the gamekeeper might 

 spare it for the farmer's sake, for the mischief done in the preserve 

 by this diminutive fellow cannot be great. 



But the cause of the stoat and the weasel has already been ably 

 advocated in ' The Zoologist,' in an interesting paper " On the habits 

 and utility of the Stoat and Weasel," by Sir Oswald Mosley, Bart. 

 The sentiments expressed in that paper, on the ill-judged interference 

 of man in the destruction of animals, have been echoed in my remarks 

 on the mole. In Sir Oswald Mosley's opinion respecting the general 

 utility of both stoat and weasel, I am quite disposed to concur ; and 

 much success do I wish him in his laudable attempt to domesticate 

 these courageous little fellows. [See Zool. 490]. 



I am disposed to think it correct that the stoat hunts in company, 

 but that the company consists only of a family party. On the only 

 occasion I ever witnessed such a hunt, it certainly was so. The 

 chase must have crossed the road before I came up, for I did not see 

 it ; but the pack consisted of two old stoats, and four others not full 



