148 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE. 



and corn ; but when hungry he will feed on flesh, and attack 

 other animals with courage and fierceness. He climbs trees, 

 and uses his paws like hands. In winter he retires to his 

 den, which is usually a hollow in some decayed tree, where 

 he hybernates until spring. Though of a wild disposition, 

 he can be tamed, and taught various tricks, in which he 

 displays a good deal of sagacity and docility. The following 

 story is quoted by Captain Brown from Captains Lewis' and 

 Clarke's travels to the source of the Missouri, as a striking 

 instance of the astonishing physical powers of the bear. 

 " One evening, the men in the hindmost of the canoes, discov- 

 ered a large bear lying in the open grounds, about three 

 hundred paces from the river. Six of them, all good hunters, 

 set out to attack him; and, concealing themselves by a small 

 eminence, came unperceived within forty paces of him. Four 

 of them now fired, and each lodged a ball in his body, two 

 of them directly through the lungs. The enraged animal 

 sprang up, and ran open-mouthed at them. As he came 

 near, the two hunters who had reserved their fire, gave him 

 two wounds, one of which, breaking his shoulder, retarded 

 his motion for a moment; but, before they could reload, he 

 was so near, that they were obliged to run to the river, and, 

 when they reached it, he had almost overtaken them. Two 

 jumped into the canoe; the other four separated, and, con- 

 cealing themselves in the willows, fired as fast as each could 

 load. They struck him several times, which only exasperated 

 him; and he at last pursued two of them so closely, that 

 they leaped down a perpendicular bank of twenty feet into 

 the river. The bear sprang after them, and was within a 

 few feet of the hindmost, when one of the hunters from the 

 shore shot him in the head, and killed him. They dragged 

 him to the banks of the river, and found that eight balls 

 had passed through his body." 



Of his docility Mrs. Bowdich gives the following amusing, 

 if, at the time, alarming illustration. "A young English officer, 



