ANIMAL TRACKS, FOOD AND DISPOSITION 127 



resemble that employed by a majority of animals when speeding. An 

 examination of the tracks shown in the plate would show this to be 

 so. The omnivorous muskrat and rat seem to combine these types 

 of locomotion as well as their types of food. The skunk, which is 

 an animal-eater, nevertheless confines its food to the smaller forms 

 like insects, crayfish and the like and does not need to exercise the 

 caution in their apprehension which animals who capture forms 

 more nearly their own size need to show. The gait does not then 

 clearly resemble the carnivorous type. An examination of the 

 skunk's tracks also shows that the animal persistently drags its feet. 

 This certainly would indicate lack of caution which has undoubtedly 

 arisen from the facts that its food is easily obtained and that for 

 obvious reasons it need show little fear of its enemies. From this 

 it would seem that besides the relation between the types of loco- 

 motion and food there might also be a relation between types of 

 track and the animal's disposition. Very probably, however, the 

 disposition is largely governed by the ease with which the animal 

 can secure a living and the liability of its capture by its enemies. 



Bird tracks as well as animal tracks indicate something of the food 

 habits and disposition. The chicken and duck, which are not perch- 

 ing birds, do not show the track of the hind toes. The chicken at 

 least would find this toe a disadvantage in scratching for food and 

 one might expect all scratching birds to be of this type. The aquatic 

 habit of the duck is of course shown in the web. The other birds 

 shown in the plate indicate that they are perching birds by the pres- 

 ence of the hind toes which enable the bird to cling more securely 

 to its perch. It is interesting to note that the crow drags its toes in 

 a careless manner. Possibly if it were not gregarious but had to 

 depend entirely upon its own alertness in detecting foes these tracks 

 might not possess this characteristic. The sparrow, which is an out 

 and out seed eater, dififers quite markedly from the omnivorous robin 

 in the method of locomotion. Besides mixing its diet the robin com- 

 bines hopping, skipping and jumping. Very probably, however, the 

 clear distinctions evident in the tracks of mammals will not be notice- 

 able in the tracks of birds. 



Unquestionably there can be exceptions cited to the general ob- 

 servations made above. The ungulate animals like the horse and 

 cow certainly do not move their limbs like the rabbit and squirrel 

 but their great size serves as a protection from a majority of the 

 carnivors. The red squirrel is largely carnivorous but this is not a 

 habit common to the group. Most of its near kin are essentially 

 herbivorous. It retains the method of locomotion common to its 



