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ERMINE , an alternative name for the stoat (Putorius ermineus), apparently applicable in its proper sense only when the animal is in itsSee also: white winter coat
.
This animal
See also: measures loin. in length exclusive of the tail, which is about 4 in. long, and becomes bushy towards the point
.
The fur in summer is reddish See also: brown above and white beneath, changing in the winter of
See also: northern latitudes to snowy whiteness, except at the tip of the tail, which at all seasons is black
.
In Scottish specimens this change in winter is See also: complete, but in those found in the See also: southern districts of See also: England it is usually only partial, the ermine presenting during winter a piebald appearance
.
The white colour is evidently protective, enabling the animals to elude the observations of their enemies, and to steal unobserved on their prey
.
It also retains heat better
than a dark covering,
and may thus serve to
maintain an equable
temperature at all See also: sea-
% sons within the See also: body
.
The colour change seems
to be due to phagocytes
devouring the pigment-
= bodies of the hair, and
not to a See also: moult
.
The See also: species is a native --= -_ of the temperate and
Ermine or Stoat (Putorius ermineus), subarctic zones of the
Old See also: World, and is repre-
sented in See also: America by a See also: form which can ,carcely be regarded as specifically distinct
.
It inhabits thickets and stony places, and frequently makes use of the deserted burrows of" moles and other underground mammals
.
Exceedingly sanguinary in disposition, and agile in its movements, it feeds principally on rats, See also: water-rats and rabbits, which it pursues with pertinacity and boldness, hence the name stoat, signifying bold, by which it is commonly known
.
It takes readily to water, and will even climb trees in pursuit of prey
.
It is. particularly destructive to poultry and See also: game, and has often been known to attack See also: hares, fixing itself to the throat of its victim, and defying all the efforts of the latter to disengage it
.
The See also: female brings forth five See also: young ones about the beginning of summer
.
The winter coat of the ermine forms one of the most valuable of commercial furs, and is imported in enormous quantities from See also: Norway, Sweden, See also: Russia and See also: Siberia
.
It is largely used for muffs and tippets, and as a trimming for See also: state robes, the See also: jet black points of the tails being inserted at See also: regular intervals as an See also: ornament
.
In the reign of See also: Edward III. the wearing of ermine was restricted to members of the royal See also: family; but it now enters into almost all state robes, the See also: rank and position of the wearer being in many cases indicated by the presence or See also: absence, and the disposition, of the black spots
.
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