Class I. STOAT. 115 



tipt with black, is longer in proportion to the 

 bulk of the animal, and more hairy ; whereas 

 the tail of the weesel is shorter, and of the same 

 color with the body : thirdly, the edges of the 

 ears, and the ends of the toes in this animal, are 

 of a yellowish white. It may be added, that 

 the stoat haunts woods, hedges and meadows, 

 especially where there are brooks, whose sides 

 are covered with small bushes ; and sometimes 

 (but less frequently than the weesel) inhabits 

 bams, and other buildings. 



In the most northern parts of Europe, these Ermines. 

 animals regularly change their color in winter, 

 and become totally white, except the end of the 

 tail, which continues invariably black; and in 

 that state are called Ermines: I am informed that 

 the same is observed in the highlands of Scot- 

 land. The skins and tails are a very valuable 

 article of commerce in Norway \ Lapland, Russia, 

 and other cold countries, where they are found 

 in prodigious numbers. They are also very 

 common in Kamtschatka and Siberia.* In 

 Siberia they burrow in the fields, and are taken How taken. 

 in traps baited with flesh. In Norway -\ they 

 are either shot with blunt arrows, or taken in 

 traps made of two flat stones, one being propped 



* Bell's Travels, i. 199. f Hist. Norway, ii. 25. 



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