Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-07
TRAILS IN THE WOODS
FOOTPRINTS OF MANY ANIMALS
IN THE LATE SNOW.
Foxes and Raccoons Out in Search of
Food-Peculiar Tracks Made
by the Deer.

Written for The Star
The late lingering snow makes the track
Ing of animals much easier than is usual
In New Hampshire at this time of year.
Not only does one see on every hand such
trails as have been seen all winter, but
to these are now added the footprints OF
skunks, raccoons, woodchucks, chipmunks
and flying sQuirrels-creatures who sleep
away all or part of each cold season.
Yesterday I was in the woods all day,
examining these interesting records and
occa sionally taking a photograph of one
which happened to be new to me. Ephem-
eral as these records are, they are so beau
tiful that it always seems pity to destroy
one needlessly and when possible I avoid
treading on them. l avoid treading upon
flowers.
Down the first valley came to q fox has
passed-a small fox. vixen I guessed from
the size OF the footprints-and I followed
the trail to see where she had been. and
what she had been doing. She had fol-
lowed the bank Of brook for q bit and
then turned off through spruce thicket
and across an old wood road, where she
had stopped to sniff at hole which had
been made by grouse. But it was evil
dent that the bird had flown before the
arrival of the fox, who had wasted no time
in useless digging, but had trotted along
In search of something more satisfying
than the odor Of departed dinner. In
hollow not far away she had found some
thing Whether her sharp ears had caught
the squeak of a mouse under the snow,
or whether her keen nose had detected the
odor. who can tell? AT any rate she had
burrowed into the white drift, nearly
foot, of loose snow, had broken through
the hard crust OF an earlier snowfall and
to the ground below, to apparently the very
spot on which a meadow mouse had made
her nest of dried grass.
No Sign of Tragedy.
The materials of the nest had been scat
tered, but whether the occupants had been
captured or not there was no way Of tell
ing There were no bloodstains present,
at ali events, and 1t would certainly seem
that wide-awake meadow mouse would
hear the fox digging, and that she would
have ample time to escape along one of her
numerous runways before her enemy
reached the nest.
After this work, the vixen had run Off
again, and very shortly had been Joined
by another fox, much larger one, whose
footprints usually kept the line made by
her own. Now and then, however, II was
evident that both foxes had stopped to
romp together, cutting up the surface or
the snow over a circle several feet in dla-
meter. l followed the tracks to the west
ern slope of a till, where both animals
had entered a burrow. The den was not
a new one, and, indeed, it would be hard
job for a fox to dig new one while the
surface of the ground is frozen as 1t is
here at present, but perhaps they hao
opened up a new tunnel the inside. This
IS the season at which foxes have their
young, and no doubt had l dug out that
burrow l should have found a family OF
binding blue-eyed cubs, innocent as the
mayfiowers under the snow, yet destined
cta oft L az Syl q
and raiders of hen rOosts. Verify, the laws
of heredity are relentless.
Trail of a Raccoon.
Clambering over hilltop. bare of trees,
1 came on the trail of raccoon. the first
l had seen this spring. 1t was very
different trail from that Of the fox, which
consists of an almost straight line of
roundish prints. The raccoon's trail showed
two lines of footmarks larger than the
fox's and longer in proportion. The fox,
in walking or trotting, places one forefoot
almost directly in front of the other, and
his hind feet follow In the same tracks.
Moreover. the fox, like the dog, treads on
his toes only. The raccoon, on the other
hand, does not place one foot in front OF
the other. but makes two distinct lines OF
tracks. one with his right feet and enc
with his left, and, as he treads on his whole
foot, like bear, each print is compare
lively long.
The coon was evidently out for food
too, and had done a good deal OF digging
for mice. He had also visited a number
of piles of brush and stones. perhaps in
the hope of waylaying an early chipmunk
whose tracks L saw near such places occa-
s'onally. But up to the point at which 1
left the trail there was NJ evidence that
any game had been captured.
red squirrel that I met a little later
had been more successful He had found
plentiful supply of food in a great hem
lock tree whose cones still retained their
seeds. Under the tree and on top of the
snow, were several little pyramids of cones
from which the seeds had been eaten, and
about these were several round holes OPEN
ing into the squirrel galleries below. Pres
emily there appeared at one entrance the
saucy face of squirrel, and. as he saw
nothing which seemed likely to harm him
he popped out, scurried up the bark of
the hemlock and presently returned with
cone in his mouth Taking a seat on
the snow, he skillfully ate out the seeds
tossed away the empty fragments and
darted UP the tree again. After eating sew
erai cones. which 1t cut from the tree with
its sharp teeth, the squirrel retired to his
subway, and 1 saw him no more.
Footprints of Other Animals.
Once or twice. in going along By the side
of an old stone WALL came upon The track
of an ermine, though the little beast had
stuck pretty close to the crevices of the
wall itself. Nov and then it had crossed
gap. leaving q trail similar to that of
mink. but smaller. Sometimes 1t had
made but one hole in the snow at each
leap; at others 1t had made two, one Sight
~ in front and little to the side of the
other. Probably 1t was In pursuit Of wild
mice, but whether It captured any or not
that day 1 could only guess, knowing the
healthy appetite and the tireless energy of
weasel and the abundance OF mice here
abouts.
Trails OF deer were numerous ma thew
differed greatly in character according to
the gait and the speed at whick the ant
NAL which made them happened to be trav-
cling. If the deer had been walking the
footprints were arranged alternately and
in two Hnes but II the animal mad been
leaping through the snow they were I'm
groups of -four, separated by shorter or
longer spaces, according to the spaed at
which he had been moving. The trails DIFF
fered also with the depth of the snow.
Where 1t was shallow the marks of the
toes were plain to see, and IL the depth
were little greater followed by the marks
of the dew claws. In places there was a
crust on which a deer could walk without
breaking through. and here, when the foot
prints were visible at all. Ii was seen that
the toes had been spread Tar apart, that