262 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
why do they not all assume the ermine dress in winter? I have never seen 
a white Stoat in summer, but I have seen dark Stoats in winter, and it is 
quite certain that cold is not the cause of change to a lighter garb, as the 
past exceedingly mild winter has proved. Our scientific friends will tell 
us it is a case of heredity. In North America it seems that the colour of 
the Stoat is almost entirely regulated by the presence or absence of snow, 
and it has been stated that at the first fall of snow the change begins, and 
within forty-eight hours the alteration of colour is perceptible, so rapidly 
does it take place. Such, however, is not the case with us, for in this 
neighbourhood we had no snow until near the end of February; whilst the 
whitest Stoat I saw during the whole winter was obtained early in January. 
I have seen a partly white Stoat as early in the autumn as September 
(Mr. Harting has recorded one in August, Zool. 1887, p. 345), and I have 
seen them more or less frequent till near the end of April—I have a record 
of one on April 26th—and occurrences in May are recorded (Zool. 1892, 
p. 810); but most of them occur, so far as I have observed, in the early part 
of the year, from January to March.—G. B. Corgin (Ringwood, Hants). 
Otters in South-western Hampshire.—That this amphibian (Lutra 
vulgaris) is still to be found in some numbers in this locality the following 
facts will prove. ‘The river Avon and its tributary brooks have during the 
past twelve months been unusually productive ; I have heard of several 
being met with in the lower parts of the stream, and I know of one man 
who caught no fewer than eight specimens in the above-named period in this 
neighbourhood, seven of which were trapped in less than half a mile of 
water, and two of those (males) scaled twenty-eight pounds each, whilst the 
smallest weighed fourteen pounds. In February, when the snow lay on 
the ground, an Otter was “ tracked” from one of the forest brooks to a large 
furze-bush at some considerable distance away, and there worried to death 
by two large dogs. Several of these forest brooks flow into the Avon, and 
it is possible that during the daytime Otters that fished the river during 
the night have retired to the quieter and less frequented brooks for their 
repose, as they are very seldom seen or their retreats discovered by fisher- 
men and others who frequent the river banks. This no doubt arises in a 
very marked degree from the nocturnal habits of the creature; but that 
they sometimes travel long distances is well known, as their nightly depre- 
dations are visible where there is no apparent “cover” or hiding place. I 
once knew of an instance where a female Otter had her lair under some 
planks of a boat-house close to the weirs, which were the “ hunting-grounds” 
(if such an expression can be rightly applied to an aquatic situation) of her- 
self and mate; but it is not always the case that they take up their quarters 
so closely to the scene of their labours. Some of the forest brooks to which 
I allude are often productive of numbers of small Trout, so that Otters 
