Mammal Tracks and Sign —A Guide to North American Species

Abstract

M Elbroch. 2003. Mammal Tracks and Sign—A Guide to North American Species. Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, 779 pp. ISBN 0-8117-2626-6, price (paper) $44.95. A sticker on the cover indicates that this book has been a winner of the National Outdoor Book Award, and it is easy to see why. With more than 1,000 high-quality color photographs, another 300+ well-drawn illustrations, and numerous detailed descriptions with painstaking measurements, it is unmatched in encyclopedic breadth by anything that has come before. That will be positive for some potential users, but a distinct liability for others. Although built like a field guide, with heavy paper and a tough cover, at 14 × 21 ×4 cm it is 2.5 times the volume of Murie (1954) original in the Peterson field guide series and, at 1.25 kg, is 3.5 times heavier. In practical terms, most users will probably want to take mammal “sign” to the book rather than the book to sign. With the advent and proliferation of compact digital cameras, that may now be easier to accomplish than it used to be. In a lengthy introduction and in Chapter 1 ( Getting Started ), the author makes clear his passion for tracking and offers a variety of perspectives on the physical, mental, and sometimes metaphysical aspects involved. Although he mentions and strongly advocates use of tracking in scientific study, examples provided are mostly from …