TRACKS IN THE SAND 77 



eighteen and even twenty inches. They steer a 

 surprisingly straight course, often over the high- 

 est part of a dune wave. Where they hide 

 themselves by day is always a problem, as it is 

 the rarest thing to discover them in daylight. 

 Even then, they are difficult to see, as they as- 

 similate their color to the sand and are very grey 

 and sandy. They may be found under a log or 

 piece of a wreck, or buried in the sand. One may 

 find in the morning a disturbance in the smooth 

 surface of the sand and tracks of a toad leaving it. 

 The toad must have buried 'himself in the sand 

 in the early morning before, but his tracks lead- 

 ing up to his hiding place were effaced by the 

 wind of the day. That evening he made his 

 exit for his night wandering and pursuit of in- 

 sects, and his tracks of exit were still plainly to 

 be seen in the morning, before the sun had dried 

 the sand and the wind had blotted out the record. 

 Insects weave a delicate tracery over the sand. 

 The seaside locust or grasshopper, colored like 

 the sand so as to be almost invisible when at rest, 

 whirs a long distance away as one walks over 

 the dunes in summer. The multiple footprints 



