White Stoats
Whether the cause was the hard winter, or some freak of albinism, I do not know, but that rarity of the south, the white stoat, has been seen in two places in Hertfordshire. One is seen repeatedly on a common in the early morning, and it looks like a full ermine, for the whiteness is complete enough to throw the dark tip of the tail into full relief. Nearby a number of equally white stoats were killed by a keeper, so to call him. In this class of animal, as in hares and some birds, the whiteness of winter is produced by a fresh growth and is therefore not due just to loss of colour- ing matter ; but odd examples of freakish albinism are of course also found. It is surprising that the bird most liable to this eccentricity is the blackbird, and in this case, though the fact is against all the laws, the whiteness may be
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