82 The Black Bear 



roused, quick to scent danger, and ready to abandon 

 their retreat and look up a new one if they think it 

 necessary. 



Ben, at any time during the winter, would rouse if I 

 called him, and would even come to the mouth of his 

 lair for a moment to greet me. I could, moreover, 

 hear him breathing, and sometimes hear him move and 

 readjust himself to a more comfortable position. He 

 was a very lazy, stupid, sleepy bear; but never too 

 stupid or sleepy to answer my call. 



One fall in Washington, near Colville in the Calispell 

 Mountains, while after deer, I noticed a strange mass 

 of dead leaves, small sticks, pine needles, and other 

 forest refuse gathered under the tangled trunks of a 

 windfall, where a number of trees had been blown down 

 crisscross. My curiosity was piqued by the queer- 

 looking affair and I climbed along one of the tree trunks 

 to see what it was. Suddenly, as I got almost over it, 

 the whole mass began to shake and quiver and out 

 came an old Black Bear and two cubs. This was the 

 only time that I ever actually knew of a Black Bear 

 and her cubs having denned up together. And I have 

 never seen more than a dozen cases where it seemed 

 probable that they had. Later on on this same trip 

 I saw seven other Black Bear sleeping places, all in 

 similar situations under tree trunks or tangled down- 

 timber. 



Only a year ago, up at Priest Lake, in Idaho, some 



