ROOSEVELT HUNTING GROUNDS. 73 



guard the female and her young. Usually the tracks of the female are 

 smaller, while those of the young have an unformed appearance. It 

 is also remembered by the expert that the same spoor will look differ- 

 ently on hard or soft ground, clayey or sandy soil, and according to the 

 action of the animal when he leaves his tracks — whether he is walking, 

 trotting or galloping. If the ground is very gritty, the shallow impress 

 left by the big game is invisible when viewed from above, although it 

 may be seen obliquely several yards away. The hunter governs him- 

 self accordingly when he comes across this kind of soil. If the ground 

 is very rocky, no actual track may be visible, but the hunter is then on 

 the lookout for pebbles or stones overturned, exposing the earthy side, 

 with the weather-beaten side down ; or vegetation rubbed off the rocks, 

 bruised or even bent. There is another form of spoor occurring on hard, 

 dry soil, sometimes made by a buck, but usually by a lion, rhino and the 

 softer footed animals ; that is a slight brushing of the ground with the 

 pad, dislodging a little dust and giving the soil a somewhat lighter color 

 than that surrounding it. 



Then there is the grassy country. If the grass is short and green, it 

 is not difficult to trace the progress of the animal by the bruised appear- 

 ance of the track. The line of drooping blades shows the direction the 

 animal has taken and a little patience will be rewarded by some bare soil 

 with a distinct track. Of all varieties of grass country the most trying 

 for the trackers is that covered by the huge elephant grass, as it is usually 

 trampled in well beaten paths by rhino, buffalo and elephant. As the 

 big game has continually to be followed over such ground, the plan of 

 the hunter is to follow a well-defined run, and whenever a branch path 

 leads away follow it in the hope of discovering some tracks on other 

 spoor which will point to the nature of the game and the comparative 

 time of his passage. Sometimes by lifting the thick layers of dead grass 

 the tender shoots beneath w411 be found freshly bruised, yielding at least 

 a portion of the information sought. 



Returning to the tracks of the big game hunted and killed by Roose- 

 velt and his party, it may be stated in general terms that the spoor of the 

 lion's forefoot, as of all cat-like animals, is rounded and wider than that 

 of the hindfoot. It is larger than that of the leopard, and the track of 

 the male is considerably larger than that of the female. Claw marks do 

 not show unless the animal is about to spring, and then they cut deeply 

 into the ground, tearing up earth and grass. 



