68 CENTRAL AFRICAN GAME AND ITS SPOOR. 



After lying about two hours in the sun it will have dried all but a little 

 moist patch at the point. 



When deposited during the night it is excessively hard to tell the age, as it 

 is kept moist by the dew. 



Natives will press it with their feet to see how recent it is by any warmth 

 remaining in it. 



In strong wind and exposed places it, of course, dries and cools very much quicker. 



The dung of a baby elephant living on milk is more like that of buffalo. A 

 wounded elephant often gets diarrhoea, which will distinguish it if there is any 

 doubt in following the spoor. 



The front foot is very much bigger and rounder than the hind. 



The bottom of the foot is covered with hard lumps of peeling skin ; the whole 

 track would only be seen in muddy or sandy places, otherwise the impression of 

 these lumps must be looked for. 



Grass or twigs trodden under foot leave their impress on the soil, and even 

 if they spring up again after the animal has passed, their fresh impress on the 

 ground will still be seen. 



If the grass is thick it should be parted or pushed aside to look for this 

 impress, or, if you place your foot in the place where he is thought to have trodden 

 it can be seen if the grass, when pushed down again, conforms to the shape of 

 his foot. 



In a sandy place, especially where there is wind, an impression will soon fill up and 

 lose its iresh appearance. The bruising of green grass should also be looked for. 



In the elephant there appears to be a distinct relation between the size of the foot 

 and that of the tusk, a big tusker generally leaving a large track, unlike buck, whose 

 feet are generally in inverse ratio to the size of horn, but, as with everything connected 

 with game, no fixed rule can be laid down. 



The spoor of females is very much smaller than that of males, and if the hunter 

 is careful not to follow any spoor measuring less than I5in. across, it may save him 

 many a hard day's walk for nothing. 



The droppings of females are also considerably smaller than those of males. The 

 spoor of female is more oval than that of male. 



Habitat. 



Bush and wooded country, generally flat but often climbs hills, especially where 

 certain trees are to be found, as a patch of Misekezi on a hillside, to which they will 

 return to strip off the bark. 



