TRACKS AND TRACKING 



vividly that I cannot do better than quote 

 them here. And first Seton: '^ You never 

 know where you may find a Jack— no one does 

 —you never see it till it leaps at close range 

 and lopes away in stiff four-cornered bounds, 

 rising without effort, like an Antelope, and 

 switching its great white brush from side to 

 side like a miniature AVhitetailed Deer; bla- 

 zing with snowy white and punctuated with 

 sharp black spots on his ears, it is the king 

 of all his kind, the largest and finest of the 

 Hares." And then Coues: '' The first sign 

 one has usually of a Hare which has squatted 

 low in hopes of concealment, till its fears force 

 it to fly, is a great bound into the air, with 

 lengthened body and erect ears. The instant 

 it touches the ground it is up again, with a 

 peculiar springy jerk, more like the rebound- 

 ing of an elastic ball than the result of mus- 

 cular exertion. It does not come fairly down 

 and gather itself for the next spring, but 

 seems to hold its legs stiffly extended, to touch 

 only its toes, and rebound by the force of its 

 impact." 



In running rapidly this great hare spreads 

 its foot-prints in a line so that the track sug- 

 gests that of a fox until the marks are critic- 



47 



