attack any dog that threatens her progeny; but when man approaches she usually
drops her offspring, but soon returns to fetch it away. Like the stoat, the
Weasel will carry off a dead mate—not to eat it, but to hide it in some hole,
I fancy.
White Weasels are not very rare ; I am sure I have seen at least thirty in
different naturalists’ or private owners’ hands. They seem to be prone to albinism.
A few examples are given by Mr. Harting.1
‘ In the “ Zoologist” for 18662 Mr. T. E . Gunn reported the capture of an
albino Weasel in Norfolk, and in the volume for 18688 Mr. Cordeaux stated that
“ a white Weasel, probably an albino, had taken up its quarters in an oat-stack
in his yard.” In 1879 the late Mr. Gurney, of Northrepps Hall, Norwich, mentioned
one which was killed there in November 1878, “ evidently assuming a
white winter coat; a circumstance which is very rare in the Weasel, though not
uncommon in the stoat. The front and sides of the head were already quite
white, and white hairs were appearing amongst the brown ones on all those parts
of the animal which are normally brown, and especially on the flanks and tail.” 4
On September 27 of the same year the late Mr. F. Bond obtained “ a pure white
Weasel, full grown, a true albino with pink eyes. It was killed by a dog in
Soham Fen, Cambridgeshire.” 6
‘ In 1884 Mr. J . J . Brigg, of Kildwick, near Leeds, reported the capture, in the
latter part of November of that year, of “ a Weasel perfectly white, including the
tail, and the eyes a dull p ink” ; 6 and in October 1889 Mr. Corbin, of Ringwood,
saw a perfectly white Weasel, which had been caught by a man cutting faggots
in the New Forest. It proved to be a male, and a true albino with pink eyes.7
In addition to these we have seen in the collection of Mr. Borrer, of Cowfold,
near Horsham, a pure white Weasel which was killed at Willoughby, in Leicestershire,
during the winter of 1867.’
Other examples of white or partially white Weasels are to be found in the
‘ Zoologist’ for 1877, 1894, and 1895, and I could add many more. *
* Ibid. 1879, p. 30.
7 Zoologist, iS.S'9, p. 449.
1 Zoologist, 1894, p. 449.
5 Ibid. 1879, p. 455.
2 P- 384. 3 P.
6 Field, January 5, 1884.
[86.