372 The Book of Woodcraft 



leaves its own clearly recognizable track. One of my daily 

 pastimes when the snow is on the ground — which is the 

 easiest and ideal time for the trailer, and especially for the 

 beginner — is to take up some trail early in the morning 

 and follow it over hill and dale, carefully noting any change 

 and every action as written in the snow, and it is a won- 

 derfully rewarding way of learning the methods and life 

 of an animal. The trail records with perfect truthfulness 

 everything that he did or tried to do at a time when he was 

 unembarrassed by the nearness of his worst enemy. 

 The trail is an autobiographic chapter of the crea- 

 ture's Hfe, written unwittingly, indeed, and in perfect 

 sincerity. 



Whenever in America during the winter I have found 

 myself with time to pass between trains, I endeavor to 

 get out into the country, and rarely fail to find and read 

 one of these more or less rewarding chapters, and thus 

 get an insight into the life of the animal, as well as into 

 the kinds that are about; for most quadrupeds are noc- 

 turnal, and their presence is generally unsuspected by those 

 who do not know how to read the secrets of the trail. 



DOG AND CAT 



The first trails to catch the eye and the best for first 

 study are those nearest home. Two well-marked types 

 are the tracks of cat and dog. Most anatomists select 

 the cat as the ideal of muscular and bony structure. It 

 is the perfect animal, and its track also is a good one 

 to use for standard. (Illustration i, p. 374.) 



In these separate prints the roundness of the toe-pads 

 tells the softness; their spread from each other shows the 

 suppleness of the toes; the absence of claw-marks tells of 

 the retractability of these weapons. The front and hind 



