64 Field and Forest Rambles. 



on questionable grounds. The COMMON WHITE WEASEL 

 of this continent, named Putorius Richardsonii, is most dis- 

 tinctly allied to the Ermine, so closely that several skulls and 

 skins from this region fail in my hands to show any appreciable 

 distinction, with the exception that the fur of the American 

 ermine is not so rich as that of northern Europe. I have 

 not seen specimens of the so-called New York ermine, from 

 the New England States, but as far as the latest and most ac- 

 curate descriptions extend there is seemingly no well-marked 

 difference between it and the T. Richardsonii, perhaps only 

 what would arise from climate. I have examined several fine 

 specimens of the ermine of New Brunswick, one of which in 

 the flesh measured six and three-quarter inches, exclusive of 

 the tail, which was seven inches.* 



The most common and widely distributed of Acadian mar- 

 tens is a little brown weasel, which agrees better with the T. 

 Cicognonii of authors than any other recorded species, but 

 only in dimensions ; for whilst I have seen no full-grown indi- 

 viduals so small as the T. Pusillus of Audubon, I have before 

 me specimens apparently in no ways different from the so- 

 called New York Ermine, either as regards size or colouring ; 

 but seeing that there is already great confusion engendered by 

 -European and American naturalists in regard to the specific 

 characters of the above, I shall enter more into details. The 

 Little Brown Weasel of New Brunswick varies from nine 

 to nine and three-quarters inches in length, inclusive of the 

 tail, which is from 'two and a half to three inches to the 

 extremity of its vertebrae, and about one-fourth of the 

 entire length of the animal. The hind legs stretched to 

 their fullest extent do not come within half an inch of the 

 last caudal vertebrae. The black of the tail extends for fully 



* The sulphur yellow tinge conspicuous in this as in other allied 

 species which turn white in winter, being localized to the hips and lower 

 parts, appears to be owing to emissions from the stench bag, the contents 

 of which are of that colour, just as the red of the hair in the inner sides of 

 the legs of the Red Deer and other mammals is caused by urine. 



