THE COUGAR 



line of the trail as do those of the wolf. The 

 roundness of the track, together with the incon- 

 spicuousness of the nail marks, even under the 

 most favorable tracking conditions, makes the 

 cougar track unmistakably different from that of 

 a wolf. However, on hard ground the track of 

 a bear and a lion may be easily taken for one 

 another, though the latter contains but four toe- 

 marks. But then every toe-mark is not often 

 visible on hard ground. 



With all predatory animals the rule holds good 

 that the female track appears smaller than that 

 of the male, even though the size of the animals 

 be the reverse. For example, a male cougar 

 measuring seven feet from tip to tip, will make a 

 bigger track than a nine-foot-long female. Al- 

 though with dividers and tape-line one might 

 have difficulty to ascertain the difference, which 

 at best would be very small to the eye, it is unmis- 

 takable, and one well acquainted with tracks can 

 hardly make the error of mistaking a female 

 track for that of a male. The latter always looks 

 more substantial. 



It is the same with the tracks of males and 

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