The Portland daily press., 1900-01-20
TRACKING ANIMALS IN THE
SNOW.
a Fascinating Recreation for the Nat
uralist.

(From "Little Beasts Of Field and
wosd," by william Everett Cram:
Small, Maynard o. Co..
To my thinking, the small beasts
that stin inhab,t our woods hate been
aitogt ther too much neglected by the
stucent OF nature. though really much
neare: to US and more easily comprehend
ed than birds, when you have once sue
eseded in finding them. For that they ars
more difficult to observe than birds is
undeniable.
I am persuaded that most Of us would
be surprised to learn how many Wild ami
mails of the bigness of a cat and upward
pass their lives In the midst OF cultivated
districts without ever having been seen
by men, to die ct last OF old age, their
existence even unsupported by the owners
Of the land lie dwelt upon.
In studying quadrupeds. the chief thing
TO bear In mind is that, with the exoep-
tion Of fquirrels and woodchuoks, aud
possibly one or two Others. all OF them
have comparatively poor eyesight. at all
events for daylight. and apparently not
m :ch better for twilight or darknssL
But even with the best OF eyes they
could only sac 10 ous dlrsotfon at time.
while the slightest screen Of grass or
foil lgs oon ,esls everything beyond It
But with sense of smell and hearing
suoh as theirs, they are instantly aware
OF anything that takes place In their Inn
mediats vicinity, with the exception uf
the one point toward which the wind
blows. Aud hers Is where b. ttsr eye
sight would often stand them in good
stead, for eyes are more vicssble away
from the wind than against 1t. and the
wonder is that in all tEess generations of
hunting and icing hunted, their eyes
have not reached q degree OF perfection !
but peiheps any gain In that direction
would mem corresponding loss In the
other senses, and SO the least important
was sacrificed an d 1t certainly seems TO
be rue that In no living creature are all
of these sensea perfect.
While the wind Is at your back. you
will get the most uns itisfaotory glimpses
of any Of the fox and weasel tribes; but
with IL In the cpposits direction. you may
study them at your leisure; and to Ger
tain degree this Is trle Of all our wild
u nimals.
In one sense winter is the best time
for studying them, for when the snow Is
In the right conc islon, you may follow
the footstepe OF n ost tht are abroad at
that season, and see for yourself how they
have been spending their thine. On
snow that Is "a ho1rs old you can hardly
60 dozen rods without crossing the
track Of one creature or another, and OF
course they multirly each night so long
q the weather Is favorable, until In
many places IL becomes difficult to dis
tinguish between them. Perhaps the
best snow ON which to study footprints js
as good, firm crust, not to) slippery, with
half an incn Of tine snow spread on Its
surface.
Snow that has been blown about good
deal, and then packed by the wind, takes
the clearest imprints, showing the exact
mold OF the feat that made them; but
such tracks are apt to be shallow, often
little more than scrat she's and hard to
nee at distance. II ths cru ct 10 10y and
the surface snow very Hight, most AMI
mails slip about on it: more or lees, often
making 1t difficult to Identify their
traofs. Very light snow. II more than
an inch or two In del tn, falls back to
the footprint just maze, obliteratinR the
outline of the foot and Civ ing the impress
sion Of the track Of q much larger AMI
NAL. A damp snow 10 nearly always sat
unlsasant to walk in; and it often hap
pens that the cleaIest tracks will be found
In snow that has been almost wasted
away by the rains.
For some reason or other, the first snow
OF the season usually shows few tracks
of the wild creatures have not become
tOughensd against its chill, and they
avoid moving about any more than 10
necessary. At all events the number Of
tracks 10 apt to increase with each success
sive snowstorm until the last of the teas-
sent a perfe,t oriss-oross Of tracks before
it is many hours old, parsly owing, no
doubt, to the alternating animals, who
have nearly all walked up by that time.
When snow is melting rapidly. 1t Is
easy to tell at glance just how long each
OF the more recent tracks has been made;
but In cold weather It IL somewhat more
difficult. II the air Is not utterly devoid
OF moist ure, you can Judge pretty closely
by the size Of the frSst crystals termed at
the edge of each footprint. You may
also, by taking up handful of sno v
ness with which 1t falls together, but this
last method is likely to prove pretty wild
guessing, with any but an old hunter or
an Indian. In thick woods you must
look for hemlock leaves or anything Of
the kind, and calculate from the COM
our In the track and on the surrounding
snow, and from the strength of the wind
and the age Of the snow, about how far
you are behind your quarry.
But above all things, you must have
your eye In readiness to see that which
you are not looking for, as on every track
there is something for every few rods that
can tell you conclusivsly what you wish
to know, II you can only read 1t Alright.
1t Is simply the game played by the de-
teotive. and just as intensely fascinating
when ones you have learned the frat few
moves. For as the track grows fresher
as you follow 1t. you must stop looking
for jt at your feet, but away In front OF
you, for the further you can discern it in
its wiudings among the trees, the more
prospect there is OF coming upon the one
that m ade it unawares, and with this In
view, the test track to follow 10 one that
leads you toward the wind.
The snow often reveals curious and in
teresting things that worid otherwise
escape notice. Sometimes l have observed
that practically all the freshly made
tracks in q certain locality pointed the