ERMINES. 
How rTa- 
KEN, 
of TA OO AF Te Crass TL 
proportion to the bulk of the animal, and more 
hairy ; whereas the tail of the weefel is fhorter, 
and of the fame color with the body: thirdly, the 
edges of the ears, and the ends of the toes in this - 
animal, are of a yellowifh white. It may be added, 
that the ftoat haunts woods, hedges and meadows; 
efpecially where there are brooks, whofe fides are 
covered with fmall bufhes; and fometimes (but lefs 
frequently than the weefel) inhabits barns, and 
other buildings. ° 
In the moft northern parts of Europe, thefe 
animals regularly change their color in winter ; and 
become totally white, except the end of the tail, 
which continues invariably black ; and in that ftate 
are called Ermines: 1 am informed that the fame 
is obferved in the highlands of Scotland. The 
fkins and tails are a very valuable article of com- 
merce in Norway, Lapland, Ruffia, and other cold 
countries; where they are found in prodigious 
numbers. They are alfo very common in Kamt- 
fcbatka and Siberia*. In Siberia they burrow in the 
fields, and are taken in traps baited with fiefh. In 
Norway + they are either fhot with blunt arrows, 
or taken in traps made of two flat ftones, one being 
propped up with a ftick, to which is faftned a 
baited ftring, which when the animals nibble, the 
ftone falls down and crufhes them to.death. The 
- Laplanders take them in the fame manner, only in- 
* Bell’s Travels, i. 199. + Hift. Nerway, i. 25. 
ftead 
