TRACKS AND TRACKING 



The most favorable time for the study of 

 tracks is in the early morning when the 

 oblique sunlight makes deep shadows, when 

 the morning dew moistens the surface so that 

 it retains best the shape of the imprints, and 

 before the wind has arisen to obscure them 

 with the blowing sand. 



The dune lover comes to recognize the com- 

 mon tracks as quickly as he does the face of 

 an old friend, and the study of the new and 

 less familiar ones is always enticing. Not 

 only can one learn the nature of the animal 

 that makes the tracks, but often a good deal 

 about its manner of life. In the case of most 

 of the makers of tracks, with the exception 

 of birds and insects, the creature is rarely or 

 never seen, and all the insight we can get into 

 its life is from the telltale footprints and per- 

 haps from its droppings. This is the case 

 very largely with the mammals, for most of 

 them are nocturnal in their habits, lying con- 

 cealed during the hours of da3dight when their 

 deadly enemy, man, stalks abroad. 



One of these night w^alkers is the Virginia 

 or white-tailed deer, that charming animal 

 which, thanks to the well-enforced protective 

 laws, is more abundant in densely settled east- 



39 



