s with claws
on the forefeet, and five on the hind, which is evidence, though not
conclusive, that it was a rodent; the absence of tail marks shows that
the tail was short or wanting; the tubercules on each palm show to
what group of mice the creature belongs. The alternation of the track
shows that it was a ground-animal, not a tree-climber; the spacing
shows the shortness of the legs; their size determines the size of the
creature. Thus we come near to reconstructing the animal from its
tracks, and see how by the help of these studies, we can get much
light on the by-gone animals whose only monuments are tracks in the
sedimentary rocks about us--rocks that, when they received these
imprints, were the muddy margin of these long-gone creatures' haunts.

What the Trail Gives--The Secrets of the Woods

There is yet another feature of trail study that gives it exceptional
value--it is an account of the creature pursuing its ordinary life. If
you succeeded in getting a glimpse of a fox or a hare in the woods,
the chances are a hundred to one that it was aware of your presence
first. They are much cleverer than we are at this sort of thing, and
if they do not actually sight or sense you, they observe, and are
warned by the action of some other creature that did sense us, and so
cease their occupations to steal away or hide. But the snow story will
{201} tell of the life that the animal ordinarily leads--its method of
searching for food, its kind of food, the help it gets from its
friends, or sometimes from its rivals--and thus offers an insight into
its home ways that is scarcely to be attained in any other way.
The trailer has the key to a new storehouse of Nature's secrets,
another of the Sybilline books is opened to his view; his fairy
godmother has, indeed, conferred on him a wonderful {202} gift in opening
his eyes to the foot-writing of the trail. It is like giving sight to
the blind man, like the rolling away of fogs from a mountain view, and
the trailer comes closer than others to the heart of the woods.

Dowered with a precious power is he,
He drinks where others sipped,
And wild things write their lives for him
In endless manuscript.

{200}

[Illustration: Tracks: Wild Turkey, Toad, Crow,
1. Jackrabbit
2. Cottontail
3. Gray squirrel
4. Coon
5. Ground bird, such as quail
6. Tree-bird
7. A bird living partly in tree, partly on ground]

{201}

Horses' Track
_N.B.--The la