Show I TELL TALE FOOTPRINTS a IBy By Ernest Harold Baynes Bayn s I NE morning last leat week W eek there lay upon UJO n the 1 ground some HOme three and aad a half halt inches of ol new 1 0 n sow and I went out early to see seeS S what my wild neighbors had hadl been bettl doing dIn deJ dur during ul uli ing i night Ight The first record I saw aw had beet been made madeS S by some seine crows had hd been beell walking Hilt about in III my lIlY m S neighbors barnyard Each footprint looked like the S track of some pigmy for foe the snow anew was too soft and too deep to show the Individual ual toe marks And I could sec Bee where each bird had stood S I at the tile moment he flew away for tor the Imprints of ot hit itte primary feathers leathers showed where here he had struck the with his wings wing at the first downward stroke Z I the th next field there was wag a brook and ad from a S Irge hole near the tank beak two mu d ct S to the Ute group of apple trees though I not dis discover d dS S cover Oer that they ey t had found anything to Mi U iThe b bof Iracks of the tile rats ra l were not well defined they did cUd tw w wS S the well known trail the footprints on Ott either side d separated by br a sharp harp line made by the S t The little animals nl Js had bad ploughed plo the t S S S S t snow leaving deep lr Irregular furrows in the form of loops the ends of which ran into the Ute burrow burr ny near the bank bk In a few places the muskrats had hd ploughed through without disturbing the surface and at these points small tunnels had been made and add added in interest terest to the appearance of the trail Not far tar away ay the Icebound brook joined ah vh ice icebound icebound icebound bound lake Jake and to this I came Across Acro s the greatfield gre great field of snow enow which stretched before me there was as just justn one n trail that of some large l rge dog which extended e Jn in a regular r r zigzag as far tar as the eye could follow w it IL TIle The footprints were seen alternately right ln aa l ft t cf an Imaginary median line This showed that the animal had not been bounding along and aad as the footmarks were too far tar apart to have bean made ittle nta wt a walk the dog doc mad madi t ii have Hell been traveling travelling at a trot tr f Ue f OB oe the t trac re n r r where here he M had bad slowed Blowe down to a walk that t he I better etter examine and sniff at an old uld boa hoa Which ii had hadI I S been jeen en frozen in the ice Then I walked toward Uie e with U u intention of entering the Uia S r S skirted the lake on the west we t Close to the bank banic how however however however ever I came ea upon the t trail of a mink so I followed that haL It did not shew show the which S may mar be seen after aft a mink has bas walked on snow not nor was waa it a gutter such each as this animal mak s when struggling on OR its short legs through very vet deep de snoW It consisted of a succession suc essi n of neat holes occurring at regular intervals and had leon bean matte made by the mink while leaping along with aroh ar h hd d beck back its it hind feet coming down close to its front frunt ones all a four feet having had a share m in the t e making ng of each hole The trail t followed the th shore closely for perhaps a quarter of a mile deviating here and these thue where the animal had stopped to sniff at a mouse moue burrow in the bank and then theft it struck across a ros the lake lk in a 8 Slightly wavy line It Ie led me up Ul u the tle opposite baRk bank 1 through a narrow narro strip of a road reed d to another lake where again it followed the Then It turned tu d into the weeds again showing i the tb individual footprints where the lithe Creature had walked through damps clumpS of because it was waa impossible to t proceed at t UM the le gaLL gait Suddenly it ran into int another trail of a different character The latter had bad been made by a rabbit and the depressions in the snow were in groups of three one ORe small one behind made by the fore paws coming down close together and two large ones one on either side In iI front made by the hind feet Which are re thrown our out outside side Ide and beyond the front feet when a rabbit is going at any speed d Thereafter the two trails trans took the same direction and often one on of them covered other oth r Over the rocks and between the trees they ran tOT torn to ward ard a pile of brus brush which had hart been left by the th lumbermen And here the rabbit tracks ended and am beyond the brush pile for a leap or two the track of the mink were bloody The spaces between them themI were shorter too for here the animal J 1 had been be tray trav traveling I eling OR on a full tuU stomach S SOn On my mf m way home kome I saw the tracks s of ot a red squirrel similar to the rabbits but maUer extending exten I from front tree t to tree in straight lines forming all manner a nn er of geometric figures upon the ground Here Bere and there I there was a break in the line where the squirrel had stopped to scratch for nuts hidden away ir in the fall and in one place a sprinkling of dark par on the snow indicated the tho branch on which the theo little nutcracker had eaten his ti breakfast Between two tiny holes one under a stone toDe wall wU U and andS S the other beneath the roots of a tree nee ran rg ra two distinct trails showing where for some so purpose e a white footed mouse had gone fone one and returned These trails were facsimiles of those tho e of the red reft squirrel excepting that the mouse moUe being so 50 light Had fled not sunk deep enough to obliterate the delicate outlines of its toes Yes there was another difference too for here and antI there along the between eD the footprints there vas nas a fine line as though made with a pencil point Where the tan tall of the mouse had bad occasionally touched the snow And nearer home ho I 1 saw the tracks of tree sparrows amongst the weed w ed stalks talks la m a meadow and the round roOd holes made by a cat which had been beast stalking the birds S But they had escaped unharmed for tor pys tracks never reached theirs doubtless s they bad flown away w LY leaving her to pick her way home in disappoint disappointment ment meat |