352 THE TRAPPER. 



canus) eat salt codfish in the depth of winter, and the little 

 chickadee (Farm atricapittus) has visited my ice house to 

 get a feed of frozen beef. I have known bears to break into 

 an oak pork barrel and devour the salt junk. On one 

 occasion, in Anticosti, they broke into my cache, ate a 

 bran-new pair of boots and half a barrel of flour, and then 

 walked off with a tightly-corked jar of molasses whether 

 they managed to get at the contents or not, I never dis- 

 covered. With a decided leaning towards leather Bruin 

 combines a weakness for rum, and gets as drunk as a lord 

 when he has the chance. The females have two, and 

 occasionally three cubs, early in the spring, before they 

 leave their dens. 



The bear has got the credit of being a ferocious animal, 

 but, after a great deal of experience in bear shooting, I 

 have arrived at the conclusion that the American variety 

 is one of the shyest, most timid, and most cowardly of 

 animals. Even a she bear I have known to desert her 

 cubs when they got into trouble, and seek her own safety 

 in flight. Of course there have been instances of bears 

 turning to bay, for even a mouse will show fight when 

 hemmed in a corner. Like the moose, their senses of 

 hearing and smell, particularly the latter, are most acute. 

 Their sight is by no means sharp. Often they do not 

 appear to notice a man in the least, unless he arrests 

 their attention by some sharp, quick motion. Whatever 

 pluck they seem to possess I attribute to their defective 

 sight. They seem more overpowered with fear by the 

 smell of a man than by anything else. 



The fur of the bear is at its prime in the spring, when 

 they first come out of their dens, and this is the best time 



