The Savannah morning news., 1900-08-24

Su inc AeIu mas passed NlLfhH u lew udy :,
one can tell within a few hours. Careful
ly take a piece of grass from which an
animal has bitten of the top, and COM
pare it with a piece OF grass freshly
plucked and bitten off by yourself. You
Will Immediately see the difference be-
tween the two No microscope is required
You might also take another sample OF
grass, if il can be found, which you know
TO have been cropped by an animal some
time previously Now, on comparing the
three, the piece freshly plucked is seen to
be green almost to the end, where there is
a slightly whitish mark caused by your
teeth when it was bitten; the second
piece is dried almost brown for perhaps
the sixteenth of an inch from the end;
the piece last plucked IS in a similar state,
but for about the eighth of an
inch from the end. where it Is
dried and brown. 1 well recollect on one
occasion coming on quite fresh tracks of
bison; unfortunately there had been
no rain within the previous twenty-four
hours at least, so that the tracks only tod
us that the animals had passed within
that period However, on examining the
grass from which the animals had grazed,
as they passed, we came to the conclusion
that they had gone along just in front
of us; indeed, the shikari asserted that
he could smell them, which was no doubt,
true. We did not go 300 yards further be-
fore we came upon two fine full-grown
bison-a COW and a bull This l felt to be
great triumph for our president power,
and the occurrence has dWelt in my men,
DRY ever since The experiment may be
tried in any meadow where cattle are
grazing, and any one who makes it will
quickly observe what he may not perhaps
have observed before.
1t is an advantage in tracking TO notice
whether the animals are walking. trotting
or gallopng, the prints of the hoofs being
differently placed in each motion, One
should have good idea of the number of
animals in a herd which one is following
up. This may be arrived at in two WAYS;
first by noticing the tracks of each indi
vidual animal where the herd has broken
up to feed; secondly, by counting the
number of forms in the grass where the
herd has laid down to rest. The latter
should correspond with the members d
the herd, though allowance should he
made for one beast which does not lie
down, but keeps guard, standing while
| tht remainder rest at ease. knowing the
number of the heard it is al once easy
to find out whether part of it has di-
vided at any point from the main body.
as is not at ell unusual. The larger ami
| mails in herd are very fond of breaking
off from the main body, the old bull Ie
| firing to himself sometimes, though it
seems that the herd is always reunited
within a day or two Again, notice the
size of the tracks, as by these both the
size and the sex of the animals are indi-
| Gated. a
really good shikari. up to his work.
should be able 70 explain every sound
which he may hear. Thus he should be
able to distinguish the tapping of a deer's
| horns against a tree from the friction of
! two boughs rubbing together; the fall of
| a branch from one voluntarily pulled
| down. The advantage of observing the
| smallest detail when after game is very
! great, as perhaps the little incident
| shows. | once put bullet through a
| huge boar lin Burmah we shoot them)
as he was grubbing in thick jungle. As
we were following him up by his tracks
| the shikari, leaning on his bamboo stick
| which seemed to me always to have the
| power of a magic wand, divided the long
| grass in which we were and directed my
| attention TO a hoof print. you see said
he, 'this boar is very savage" How do
! you know?' l replied. "Oh," said he,
| look at his foot mark" The foot mark
was in such a position as to show that
| the boar while going along had turned
! to look back to see whether he was fol-
| lowed or pursued. I did not notice it I'M
| ill pointed out, but the shikari saw IL at
once He had inferred from this that the
| beast was wounded, and ready to charge
anything that came in his way. Few would
perhaps credit that so much could be
read from single foot print, but the eX-
perienced eye at once detects it. In fact
! as the tracker goes along he ought 10 be
| able to read as in a book every little de-
| tail which may in any way assist him to
work up to the final tragedy which he
! hopes for He, above all. should be one
who finds tongues in trees, books in the
running brooks, sermons in stones and
| .rnoll in nrerNf n ing"