no RED DEER. 



Lastly, the time at which he passed a given 

 spot is known by the freshness of the slot, 

 and the harbour er can tell if he went by 

 recently — some hours, a day, or two days 

 since. If recently, the slot is 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 determining 

 the age of the stag is increased by the un- 

 certainty 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 



