FOOTPRINTS IN THE SNOW 



421 



foot apart under normal conditions, but 

 these vary according to the state of the 

 snow. If it is dee]) and soft, the step 

 will be irregular, indicating that bis 

 progress was by jumps. 



The bouse cat makes a very deliber- 

 ate track, every foot print clear and dis- 

 tinct, and evidently put down with ex- 

 treme caution. Cat prints are easily 

 identified, when once seen, but there is 

 no uniformity as to bow they lay their 

 course. One may be in a straight line, 

 as direct as a surveyor's line ; another 

 will meander like a meadow brooklet ; 

 still another will side course and double 

 track in a puzzling fashion, until you 

 wonder if the feline who made it 

 was not under the influence of intoxi- 

 cants. 



Of the birds that visit the snowy 

 places, we find the horned lark, lapland 

 longspur, snowflake, robin and crows 

 the most numerous. 



The horned lark leaves a dragging 

 trail. Its methodical crouching walk, 

 and long spurs will sometimes cut two 

 parallel lines, from which you can hard- 

 ly find where the feet have rested, and 

 again, it will leave a trail as distinct as 

 one could wish for. It is an uncertain 

 ranger, but this is due to its continued 

 search for food, and although it must 

 suffer severely in winter for the neces- 

 sities of life, it is as cheerful in its song 

 as if the cares of the world belonged to 

 some other bird. Along the railroad 

 tracks, and on the bare spots in the 

 cpen fields, one can always hear its 



musical song, though at times it cuts 

 this short and melts the notes into '<\ 

 piteous appeal, which to me is always 

 interpreted as a cry for food. 



The crows are ever with us. In sum- 

 mer they track the newly plowed land, 

 and pull the sprouting grain, and in 

 winter they visit the same fields, and 

 renew the walks they previously took 

 under more congenial skies. Their track 

 is a dodging one, but withal distinct. 

 The impressions of the warts on the toe 

 joints, and the tapering cuts made by 

 the claws are visible under favorable 

 conditions. 



The robin is not a bird of winter, 

 but it sometimes gets up into the zone 

 of snow, before the latter has melted 

 away. If the snow is not deep, and it 

 seldom is at the time the robins arrive, 

 it leaves a running track, plainly in- 

 dented with its three toes. It is zig- 

 zag in shape, and follows the course 

 made when seeking ground fare such 

 as frozen fruit, and early insect life. 



We might go on for pages, and give 

 personal experiences and details, rather 

 than generalities, but we believe this 

 article will have accomplished its ob- 

 ject if it stirs up in the student of Na- 

 ture a desire to see the stories of life 

 in winter for himself, as told by the 

 tracks of the creatures that live with 

 us the entire year. If one will but get 

 out and see with his own eyes he will 

 learn more of the ways of animals in a 

 few days of winter tracking, than he 

 could in many years of summer study. 



