HABITS OF THE GRISLY BEAU. 287 



that he will often abandon a trail because it is that of a 

 small-sized beast ; another, because it is that of a bear 

 with young ; or yet another, because the animal is too 

 fat, and his flesh would be unwholesome ; and finally a 

 fourth, because the beast is not worth the trouble of a 

 pursuit. It is this knowledge, in my opinion, which dis- 

 tinguishes the true hunter from him who hunts for occa- 

 sional amusement. The former requires no assistance in 

 following the game, while the second can do nothing with- 

 out the help of a well-trained dog. 



The means employed in America for destroying the 

 grisly bears are perhaps as numerous as the bears them- 

 selves. None of these animals can be attacked by an 

 uniform process; and this, without doubt, it is which 

 renders them so dangerous and so difficult to kill. The 

 device which has once succeeded may, a second time, de- 

 liver the hunter into the fatal grip of his adversary; and 

 it is needless to say that this enormous beast, whose 

 strength is so great that he can carry off a horse to his 

 distant den, finds in the stoutest and strongest man a 

 mere plaything ! 



The grisly bears, like the lion and the tiger, generally 

 retire during the day to their secret lairs. Here, in 

 winter, they abandon themselves to a profound slumber, 

 which is, so to speak, doubled in proportion to the inten- 

 sity of the frost. They select their retreats at the end of 

 autumn, and do not quit them until the snows are melted, 

 and the spring has revived the young grass of the prairies. 

 It sometimes happens that one of these recesses is inha- 

 bited by a couple of bears, but this is a rare occurrence, for 

 the unsocial humour of these quadrupeds is proverbial in 



