TRACKS IN THE SNOW 291 



the forefeet, make the tracks practically certain of 

 identification. Most people know that a rabbit's 

 hind foot is larger than its fore foot, yet it is not 

 at all an uncommon thing to see a man tracking 

 bunny backwards, in other words, thinking that 

 the smaller fore foot tracks were in front of, instead 

 of behind, the hind feet. When the snow is deep 

 the hare burrows beneath the surface in search of 

 food ; these tunnels are often of considerable 

 length. 



A belief common to many people is that squirrels 

 hibernate, but anyone walking through the woods 

 can disprove it, for, even though he sees no squirrels, 

 he will see the tracks in abundance. Chipmunks 

 do hibernate in their underground homes, where 

 they have great stores of food, but both grey and 

 red squirrels lead a more or less active life through- 

 out winter. This is made clear by the fact that much 

 of their food is stored in the ground beneath leaves 

 and rubbish. A certain very well known writer 

 makes the statement that the red squirrel lays up 

 no stores like the provident chipmunk, but scours 

 about for food in all weathers ; but this is by no 

 means true. I have frequently seen a hoard of 

 hemlock seeds which had been dug and eaten by 

 a red squirrel in a part of the country where there 

 are no greys. The tracks of a squirrel resemble 

 to some extent those of a mink. When first I 

 began looking at tracks in the snow 1 could only 

 be sure which were which by following them up ; 

 if they began and ended at a tree I called them 

 squirrels', if at a stream or swamp they were put 

 down as minks'. This was a tedious way of doing 



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