of which the muskrat is an example, usually show the mark of a dragging tail 

 in the print series. Most mammals drag their tails only when moving very 

 slowly. As soon as any speed is reached, the tail serves as a balancing and 

 steering organ and is raised clear of the ground. Contrary to the impression 

 given by sketches sometimes used in illustrating tracks, the common rat, for ex' 

 ample, only rarely leaves a tail print, unless he pauses in his journey. As most 

 hunters know, only a tired fox will lower his tail enough to leave more than 

 an occasional print, except in deep snow. 



Indications other than footprints often supply additional clues. The dog 

 family commonly scratch the ground around their calling places. The cat and 

 the bear groups claw on tree trunks and leave well marked scratches. The 

 bears also break open rotting logs or stumps in search for insects. In autumn 

 male deer relieve their itching and clean their antlers by rubbing them on trees 

 and shrubs. Food fragments also tell a story. Rabbits and mice, with good 

 upper as well as lower incisors, cut twigs as cleanly as a knife. Deer, lacking 

 upper incisors, leave a somewhat ragged cut. Beavers cut down trees, while 

 porcupines, squirrels and mice usually gnaw off the bark and leave the trees 

 standing. Red squirrels commonly cut off twigs bearing green pine cones, acorns 

 or apples, while gray squirrels rarely do so, except for an immediate meal. Gray 

 squirrels cut nutshells into pieces to get the kernels, red and flying squirrels 

 make a ragged opening in each shell, while mice usually cut a smooth opening 

 in each side. Shrews commonly remove the apex from snail shells in order to 

 eat out the occupants. 



Bird tracks are common, but lack the individuality of mammal tracks. 

 Small birds that spend most of their time in trees keep their feet together when 

 on the ground, and hop instead of walking. The larger perching birds usually 

 walk, but sometimes vary the gait with hopping. Even the crow may occasion- 

 ally be seen hopping, generally aiding the process by flapping his wings. The 

 crow track can usually be recogni2,ed by the combination of large size, long hind 

 toe, and unequal spreading of the front toes. Webbed feet and the extreme 

 tendency to toe in mark the tracks of ducks. The large print of the heron, 

 with its widely spread toes, is common along pond edges. There also may be 

 seen the tracks of shore birds such as sand-pipers, peculiar in showing no print 

 of rear toe. In muddy marshes the woodcock patters along and leaves a typical, 

 close grouping or lace-like design of tracks, punctuated here and there with 

 round holes where it has plunged its pencil -like beak into the mud to probe for 

 worms. In the woods large tracks may be left by grouse, partridge and pheasant, 

 the pheasant differing from most other large birds because it points its middle 

 toes directly ahead instead of inwards. 



Sometimes conditions are right to record the tracks of the turtle as it 

 holds its shell aloft and with slow and short steps leaves two curious, parallel 

 rows of tracks, spaced about as far apart as its shell is wide. If it is a young 



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