The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-03-10
HOTEL LOBBY GLEANINGS
MR.. ERNEST THOMPSON SET1s STOPS
AT THE DENISON.
An Interesting Chat with the Natural
list About wild AnimaIs-Other
Hotel Visitors.

A tall man with black, bushy hair, a dark
mustache and a pair of kindly gray eyes
sat busily engaged in writing in a room at
the Denison Hotel the most of yesterday
afternoon. On the floor about him was
strewn all sorts of papers and documents.
Prominent among them were some large
sheets of white paper which looked as if
they had been daubed with printers ink.
The figures on one sheet of paper looked
as if a small boy had laid his hand in a
large can Of ink and then pressed it on the
paper.
Those are fox tracks," remarked Mr..
Ernest Thompson Seton, pointing TO the
sheet of paper that contained the most
tracks" Every one of those daubs has
a story in it," he added. as his visitor
curiously eyed the ink-marked sheets. Mr..
Thompson Seton is perhaps the -best-known
naturalist in the world. His stories of an
imals have delighted millions of children
ana grown-up people as well. Mr.. Seton
dropped into town yesterday on his way
TO Muncie, where he will deliver two of
his delightful talks on animals to-day. He
came from Chicago, where he talked to
Music Hall audiences. Mr.. Seton will on
May l become the editor of the boys de-
partment of the Ladies Home Journal.
Il ain really showed under with work"
he remarked yesterday, land 1 don't know
nov lOIk Il VII DS dDlt " SIdId II. MI
Seton will not let his literary work for
the Home Journal interfere with his lee
lures and study of animals. He delivers
twelve talks a week in addition TO purSu-
ing his Investigation of the characteristics
of animals. He Will make his usual trip
West this summer, and expects to make
some researches into the animal population
of Manitoba, the Dakotas and in Mon
tana. The trail is an absolute account OF
the animals life" remarked Mr.. Seton.
He has followed a buck a whole day, study
ing the animals tracks. In studying the
characteristics of the fox he not only ex-
amines its tracks in the woods, but also
gets the imprint of its foot on paper. The
tracks he showed yesterday were made by
a red fox in the New York Geological Park.
In getting a record of these tracks Mr..
Seton procures two large pieces of white
paper. One of these sheets he covers with
and then causes the fox to walk on the
sheet that is heavily linked. Then it re-
QuireS time and patience to get the animal
to place it's feet on the white sheet of pa
complished, however, Mr.. Seton has the
correct outline of the foX'S foot. He point
ed TO a sheet of paper that contained rae
coon tracks. 1.-The coon has five toes" he
remarked, while the fox only has four.
When nature wants to make a swift ami
NAL it reduces the number OF toes. Conse-
quently the fox can make faster time than
the coon. The latter, however, has an adj
vantage over the fox in the way of climb
ing. With it's five toes the coon can climb
a tree, but the fox with its four toes cannot
climb"
Mr.. Seton is greatly interested in the park
he has built in Connecticut. He has in
closed a piece of wooded land with about
three miles of wire fence. He does not al
low a gun fired inside the place, and the
Enclosure is rapidly becoming a resort for
wild animals. Mr.. Seton says he is doing
this with a view TO showing how wild ami
mails can be protected.