132 RED DEER. 



sharply marked, and the soil has had no 

 time to crumble if sand, or crack if clay. 

 The bottom of the mark is often moist, 

 compared with the general surface of the 

 ground, for when the general surface is dry 

 it is damp half an inch under. Moistness 

 shows that the impression has not had time 

 to dry. 



Till now it has been assumed that the 

 earth always takes a perfect impression like 

 wax ; but in reality the contrary is the 

 case, and the difficulty of precisely deter- 

 mining the age of the stag is increased by 

 the uncertainty of the material on which 

 the impression is left. Deer paths often 

 pass through heather, and they walk on the 

 dry stems trodden down ; these take no 

 mark at all. Nor is there slot where fern 

 abounds, nor on the loose stones which 

 cover so many acres of Red Deer Land. In 

 sand the slot is sometimes almost perfect 



