CHAPTER n 



TRACKS AND TRACKING 

 " Unto each the spoor and sign." 



Kipling. 



ON the snow the study of the tracks of 

 birds and beasts is an interesting one, 

 although often of short duration, lim- 

 ited to the winter and to favorable snowfalls ; 

 but at all seasons, in the white fields of sand 

 he who runs may read the history of the dune 

 inhabitants. In the exposed places the wind 

 may speedily efface the records, or the frosts 

 of winter may render parts of the surface un- 

 yielding to the impress of feet, but there are 

 always places in the dunes where the tracks 

 are wonderfully perfect. In the summer, 

 creatures that never are seen in the winter, 

 and consequently never make tracks in the 

 snow, such as toads, snakes and grasshoppers, 

 spread their strange hieroglyphs over the 

 sand. 



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