’ A TASTE OF MAINE BIRCH. 59 
Lot’s wife, her curiosity got the better of her; she 
stopped to have a final look, and her travels ended 
there and then. 
Uncle Nathan had trapped and shot a great many 
dears, and some of his experiences revealed an un- 
usual degree of sagacity in this animal. One April, 
when the weather began to get warm and thawy, an 
old bear left her den in the rocks and built a large, 
warm nest of grass, leaves, and the bark of the white 
cedar, under a tall balsam fir that stood in a low, 
sunny, open place amid the mountains. Hither she 
conducted her two cubs, and the family began life in 
what might be called their spring residence. The 
tree above them was for shelter, and for refuge for 
the cubs in case danger approached, as it soon did in 
the form of Uncle Nathan. He happened that way 
soon after the bear had moved. Seeing her track in 
the snow, he concluded to follow it. When the bear 
had passed, the snow had been soft and sposhy, and ~ 
she had “slumped,” he said, several inches. It was 
now hard and slippery. As he neared the tree the 
track turned and doubled, and tacked this way and 
that, and led through the worst brush and brambles 
to be found. This was a shrewd thought of the old 
bear; she could thus hear her enemy coming a long 
time before he drew very near. When Uncle Nathan 
finally reached the nest, he found it empty, but still 
warm. Then he began to cirele about and look for 
the bear’s footprints or nail-prints upon the frozen 
snow.. Not finding them the first time, he took a 
larger circle, then a still larger; finally he made a 
long détour, and spent nearly an hour searching for 
some clew to the direction the bear had taken, but all 
to no purpose. Then he returned to the tree and 
