The Black Bear 45 



forests or thick brush. They are easy enough 

 to trap, however. Thus, these two men, 

 though they trapped so many, never but once 

 killed them in any other way. On this occa 

 sion one of them, in the winter, found in a 

 great hollow log a den where a she and two 

 well-grown cubs had taken up their abode, 

 and shot all three with his rifle as they burst 

 out. 



Where they are much hunted, bear become 

 purely nocturnal; but in the wilder forests I 

 have seen them abroad at all hours, though 

 they do not much relish the intense heat of 

 noon. They are rather comical animals to 

 watch feeding and going about the ordinary 

 business of their lives. Once I spent half an 

 hour lying at the edge of a wood and looking 

 at a black bear some three hundred yards off 

 across an open glade. It was in good stalk 

 ing country, but the wind was unfavorable 

 and I waited for it to shift waited too long 

 as it proved, for something frightened the 

 beast and he made off before I could get a 

 shot at him. When I first saw him he was 

 shuffling along and rooting in the ground, so 

 that he looked like a great pig. Then he be 

 gan to turn over the stones and logs to hunt for 

 insects, small reptiles, and the like. A mod- 



