TRACKS 

 CHAPTER 17 



The ability to recognize the tracks of our common animals adds consider- 

 ably to the pleasure of our walks and increases our knowledge of the local 

 fauna. Many of the wild animals have learned to avoid man and to make 

 their excursions in the twilight of early morning and late evening, so that only 

 by their tracks are we likely to become aware of their presence. In the winter 

 a light snowfall will often take the record for us to read, while the rest of the 

 year dusty hollows, such as are often found under overhanging rock ledges, 

 and the banks of streams and ponds, as the waters recede after a flood or with 

 the drought of summer, present the autograph album for our inspection. Like 

 many human signatures, these animal tracks sometimes puzzle us at first but, 

 since the same tracks are usually repeated many times, a few clear ones to show 

 details will usually tell the story. The arrangement of footprints in a series is 

 as important as the detail of the individual print in identifying the maker and 

 in disclosing something of his normal habits. In the occasional good tracking 

 snows of winter, an attemipt to follow the track of some one animal, even if it 

 be only the wide-ranging house cat, will teach one much about animal psychol' 

 ogy. It is a surprise to most people to learn how many wild animals are hold- 

 ing their own, even on the outskirts of large cities. A booklet of the Field 

 Museum lists thirty-nine species of wild mammals living within the Chicago 

 area. In addition to mammals, there are hosts of birds and numbers of rep- 

 tiles and amphibians, all leaving prints that he who walks may read. 



One group of mammals has hoofs, and so leaves distinctive prints. The 

 hoof prints most likely to be seen by the cross-country hiker are those of deer, 

 sheep and pig. Usually the space between the tracks serves to separate those 

 of the deer from the others. In soft ground or deep snow or when the animal 

 slips somewhat, the two small toes or hoofs on the back of the foot, the ''dew 

 claws", leave their mark. In the case of deer these dew claws leave marks 

 some distance behind the regular hoofs, but in the shorter-legged mammals, 

 like the sheep and pig, the prints of the dew claws fall closer to the others. The 

 pronghorn antelope is peculiar among native hoofed mammals in having no 

 dew claws. Sheep wear special shoes designed for mountain climbing. They 

 have a rounded, rubbery pad on the bottom of each toe, making a non-skid 

 tread, and the sides of the hoof are hard and sharp, serving to cut toe-holds in 

 the thin soil of mountain paths. Sheep tracks show this hardened hoof edge 

 especially well on the back and outer sides of each print. The goat foot and 

 track much resemble those of sheep, but the sharp edge extends along the inner 



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