THE AMERICAN WILDERNESS. 25 



oval hoofs of the moose, and much larger 

 than those of the wapiti. The tracks of all 

 three can be told apart at a glance, and can- 

 not be mistaken for the footprints of other 

 game. Wapiti tracks, however, look much 

 like those of yearling and two-year-old cattle, 

 unless the ground is steep or muddy, in 

 which case tlie marks of the false hoofs ap- 

 pear, the joints of wapiti being more flexible 

 than those of domestic stock. 



The whitetail deer is now, as it always has 

 been, the best known and most abundant of 

 American big game, and though its numbers 

 have been greatly thinned it is still found in 

 almost every State of the Union. The com- 

 mon blacktail or mule deer, which has like- 

 wise been sadly thinned in numbers, though 

 once extraordinarily abundant, extends from 

 the great plains to the Pacific ; but is sup- 

 planted on the Puget Sound coast by the 

 Columbian blacktail. The delicate, heart- 

 shaped footprints of all three are nearly indis- 

 tinguishable ; when the animal is running the 

 hoof points are of course separated. The 

 track of the antelope is more oval, growing 

 squarer with age. [Mountain sheep leave 

 footmarks of a squarer shape, the points of 

 tlie hoof making little indentations in the 

 soil, well apart, even when the animal is only 

 walking; and a yearling's track is noi mlike 

 that made by a big prong-buck when striding 

 rapidly with the toes well apart. White-goat 

 tracks are also square, and as large as those 

 of tlie siieep ; but tliere is less indentation of 

 the hoof ]")()ints, which come nearer together. 



The antelope, or prong-buck, was once 



