ROOSEVELT HUNTING GROUNDS. 
37 
guard the female and her young. Usually the tracks of the female are 
smaller, while those of the young have an unformed appearance. It 
is also remembered by the expert that the same spoor will look differ¬ 
ently on hard or soft ground, clayey or sandy soil, and according to the 
action of the animal when he leaves his tracks—whether he is walking, 
trotting or galloping. If the ground is very gritty, the shallow impress 
left by the big game is invisible when viewed from above, although it 
may be seen obliquely several yards away. The hunter governs him¬ 
self accordingly when he comes across this kind of soil. If the ground 
is very rocky, no actual track may be visible, but the hunter is then on 
the lookout for pebbles or stones overturned, exposing the earthy side, 
with the weather-beaten side down; or vegetation rubbed off the rocks, 
bruised or even bent. There is another form of spoor occurring on hard, 
dry soil, sometimes made by a buck, but usually by a lion, rhino and the 
softer footed animals; that is a slight brushing of the ground with the 
pad, dislodging a little dust and giving the soil a somewhat lighter color 
than that surrounding it. 
Then there is the grassy country. If the grass is short and green, it 
is not difficult to trace the progress of the animal by the bruised appear¬ 
ance of the track. The line of drooping blades shows the direction the 
animal has taken and a little patience'will be rewarded by some bare soil 
with a distinct track. Of all varieties of grass country the most trying 
for the trackers is that covered by the huge elephant grass, as it is usually 
trampled in well beaten paths by rhino, buffalo and elephant. As the 
big game has continually to be followed over such ground, the plan of 
the hunter is to follow a well-defined run, and whenever a branch path 
leads away follow it in the hope of discovering some tracks on other 
spoor which will point to the nature of the game and the comparative 
time of his passage. Sometimes by lifting the thick layers of dead grass 
the tender shoots beneath will be found freshly bruised, yielding at least 
a portion of the information sought. 
Returning to the tracks of the big game hunted and killed by Roose¬ 
velt and his party, it may be stated in general terms that the spoor of the 
lion’s forefoot, as of all cat-like animals, is rounded and wider than that 
of the hindfoot. It is larger than that of the leopard, and the track of 
the male is considerably larger than that of the female. Claw marks do 
not show unless the animal is about to spring, and then they cut deeply 
into the ground, tearing up earth and grass. 
