eal time for tracking, and almost the only time for most folk,
is when the ground is white. After the first snow the student walks
forth and begins at once to realize the wonders of the trail. A score
of creatures of whose existence, maybe, he did not know, are now
revealed about him, and the reading of their autographs becomes easy.

It is when the snow is on the ground, indeed, that we take our
four-foot census of the woods. How often we learn with surprise from
the telltale white that a fox was around our hen house last night, a
mink is living even now under the wood pile, and a deer--yes! there is
no mistaking its sharp-pointed un-sheep-like footprint--has wandered
into our woods from the farther wilds.

Never lose the chance of the first snow if you wish to become a
trailer. Nevertheless, remember that the first morning after a night's
snow fall is not so good as the second. Most creatures "lie up" during
the storm; the snow hides the tracks of those that do go forth; and
some actually go into a "cold sleep" for a day or two after a heavy
downfall. But a calm, mild night following a storm is sure to offer
abundant and ideal opportunity for beginning the study of the trail.

How to Learn

Here are some of the important facts to keep in view, when you set
forth to master the rudiments:

_First_.--No two animals leave the same trail; not only each kind but
each individual, and each individual at each stage of its life, leaves
a trail as distinctive as the creature's appearance, and it is obvious
that in that they differ among themselves just as we do, because the
young know their mothers, the mothers know their young, and the old
ones know their mates, when scent is clearly out of the question.

Another simple evidence of this is the well known fact that no two
human beings have the same thumb mark; all living creatures have
corresponding peculiarities, and all use these parts in making the
trail.

_Second_.--The trail was begun at the birthplace of that creature and
ends only at its death place; it may be recorded in visible track or
perceptible odor. It may last but a few {191} hours, and may be too
faint even for an expert with present equipment to follow, but
evidently the trail is made, wherever the creature journeys afoot.

_Third_.--It varies with every important change of impulse, action, or
emotion.

_Fourth_--When we find a trail we may rest assured that, if living, the
creature that made it is