FEATHERED GAME 



IT is out of the question to treat the signs 

 and tracks of birds with the same thorough- 

 ness as those of mammals, because the tracks 

 of several birds reproduce exactly those of domes- 

 tic fowls, and those made by young birds of one 

 kind may look like those of old birds of another 

 variety. A description of bird tracks will, how- 

 ever, be found interesting, and perhaps useful 

 at certain times, especially by the inexperienced 

 hunter. 



The locality where a given track is seen is the 

 main point to be considered. Tame turkeys and 

 domestic chickens do not, as a rule, venture great 

 distances from the barnyard, so if tracks similar 

 to theirs are seen far from human habitation, it 

 is usually safe to conclude that wild birds made 

 them. In the case of waterfowls 1 , however, even 

 the consideration -of the locality, under certain 

 circumstances, does not exclude errors; so the 

 hunter, if he sees tracks from which he might 



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