CELEBRATING GROUND-HOG DAY 49 



as we shivered nearly frozen in a place where we 

 were close to three dens. Nothing showed up, 

 so we moved on. These entrance-ways to the 

 dens were partly full of untracked snow. We 

 planned to return later in the day and see if any- 

 thing had made a footprint in the snow. 



Hours were spent crawling and looking. Not 

 a ground-hog nor even little pig children were 

 seen. In going across an opening we saw a line 

 of tracks reaching from a den into the woods. 

 While I was looking into the woods George, 

 all excitement, grabbed my arm and pointed at 

 a brown head poked forth from the hole and 

 making a shadow on the snow. 



Then this shadow maker climbed out and hur- 

 ried off in a crippling gallop. It was a three- 

 legged coyote. When one goes out looking for 

 something he is certain to see something of in- 

 terest even though this is not a ground-hog 

 shadow on the snow. Two of the surprises I 

 had in wandering the wilds hunting with a kodak 

 were that frequently animals are crippled and 

 that they so often play. 



Late afternoon we returned to the first dens 

 watched in the morning. The snow in the en- 

 trance-ways was still untracked. Our shadows 

 showed upon the snow where ground-hog had 

 not shadowed. But the shadow of a big peak to 

 the west would soon slip across the den and it 



