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. 310); but most of them occur, so far as I have observed, in the early part of the year, from January to March.—G.B. Corbin (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 fishermen 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 depredations 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 herself 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
