294 



TRAVELS OF A NATURALIST 



quite three inches in length.* Coming down to the 

 riverside from the forest, we came across the tracks of a 

 large and a small bear, pretty fresh, and we are inclined 

 to think they were made as lately as last night, before the 

 thaw of to-day commenced. The peculiar shape, like 

 a man's naked footprints, and the long stride — about 

 4i feet, and the longest quite 5 feet — left no doubt on 

 our minds as to the animals that made them. I roughly 



sketched the footprints and their relative positions, and 

 the accompanying copy may serve to give some idea of 

 them. 



Allowances must be made for the effect of the thaw, 

 taking off the exact imprint and rounding the edges. 

 The imprints of the two jEirst, when fresh, ought to be 

 complete, i.e., of the whole foot, while those of the hind 

 or second pair should be only the imprints of the ball of 

 the foot and toes. 



Sometimes the tracks of the two — old and young — 

 joined, but more frequently the young one seemed to 

 have diverged for a space, sometimes as much as fifty 

 paces, and returned. The tracks followed the course of a 

 small river, about three versts from Ust Zylma. 



During our ran^ble we found another heavy trap set 

 and baited, ap])arently for Hares, as all round the branches 

 had been nibbled and the bark removed. Afterwards we 



"-'' This was probably the Snowy Owl brought in to us two days 

 later (see p. 297). 



