TRACKS AND TRACKING 



mals in the dunes. I have no doubt, however, 

 that I have frequently passed close to them 

 in the sunlight as they lay crouched in the 

 dime thickets. Their presence has not been 

 an entirely unmixed pleasure to all, for the 

 lone farmer of the dunes, whose arable land 

 and orchards were first covered by the sand, 

 and whose planted peas were later scratched 

 up by the imported pheasant, has recently 

 been obliged to erect high wire fences around 

 his small, sandy vegetable gardens to prevent 

 their total consumption by the deer. Near the 

 farmhouse on Castle Hill are some Japanese 

 yew trees which prove in winter a most at- 

 tractive diet for the deer. To protect these, 

 scarecrows of red flannel wave their flimsy 

 arms in the breeze, and I have recently been 

 obliged to protect in a similar manner some 

 of my own white cedars to prevent their total 

 destruction. However, the occasional sight of 

 these graceful animals, and the more frequent 

 discovery of their delicate tracks, is well 

 worth while. 



I shall never forget a splendid buck with 

 spreading antlers that trotted over the broad 

 marshes one beautiful summer morning in 

 full view of my house. Into the tide he 



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