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ible tciTor of the wilds — than by the appearance of man. The she bear, 

 when accompanied by her cubs, will show fight in their defence, if they 

 are meddled with ; yet not always with that self-sacrificing devotion 

 which some writers would lead us to imagine. I once had a personal — 

 and it migljt have been a dangerous — encounter with a she bear, the 

 largest animal of the kind I ever saw. She had two cubs with her, and 

 the result of my stirring interview with this maternal bruin did not give 

 me a very high opinion of her courage, even in the defence of her 

 young. At a distance of six feet she growled savagely, and showed her 

 teeth viciously ; but w^.en my gun missed fii-e twice, she turned tail and 

 ran away with all her speed, leaving her cubs behind her. This littie 

 hunting episode occurred in a fine open hardwood bush, with a soft car- 

 pet of moist leaves ou the ground. I was young then, and thought I 

 could run as fast as a bear ; but 1 shall never forget the ignominious 

 manner in which I was distanced. With my two terriers I chased her 

 to the edge of a swamp about a mile off; and, although I ran back to 

 the starting point, at a good pace, I found her theie before me. She 

 would not afterwards allow me to get within shot of her. I wanted 

 badly to kill a bear ; but it was in the days of flint locks and short 

 ranges. Had I possessed a Snider, a Ballard or a lightning repeater, I 

 should have laid her out at first sight in half a minute. After all, per- 

 haps the two dogs — although much less dangerous enemies than their 

 master — frightened her more than I did. The cubs were young, and I 

 have often since been glad that my gun missed fire. Black bears are 

 caught in steel traps, and in timber " dead-falls " set in their places of 

 resort. Steel traps are also successfully used at certain trees to which 

 bears are in the habit of resorting for the purpose of scratching the 

 baik, with what intent can only be conjectured. Some have thought 

 that they do it for the purpose of sharpening their claws. Others have 

 imagined that the act is peculiar to the pairing season, and that the tree 

 thus marked becomes the trysting i)lace, and it may be a battle ground. 

 By the height of the marks left on trees by bears, the animals must have 

 stood erect on their hind feet while performing the cat-like operation. 

 I once saw a large balsam tree in the wilds of the Madawaska River, 

 deeply scored and toi-n by the claws of bears at a height of at least 

 seven feet from the ground. Steel trajis are frequently set in corn and 



