THE BEE-PASTUKES 363 



bees, carpenter-bees, and leaf -cutters. Butterflies, 

 too, and moths of every size and pattern; some 

 broad- winged like bats, flapping slowly, and sailing 

 in easy curves; others like small, flying violets, 

 shaking about loosely in short, crooked flights close 

 to the flowers, feasting luxuriously night and day. 

 Great numbers of deer also delight to dwell in the 

 brushy portions of the bee-pastures. 



Bears, too, roam the sweet wilderness, their blunt, 

 shaggy forms harmonizing well with the trees and 

 tangled bushes, and with the bees, also, notwith 

 standing the disparity in size. They are fond of 

 all good things, and enjoy them to the utmost, with 

 but little troublesome discrimination flowers and 

 leaves as well as berries, and the bees themselves as 

 well as their honey. Though the California bears 

 have as yet had but little experience with honey 

 bees, they often succeed in reaching their bountiful 

 stores, and it seems doubtful whether bees them 

 selves enjoy honey with so great a relish. By 

 means of their powerful teeth and claws they can 

 gnaw and tear open almost any hive conveniently 

 accessible. Most honey-bees, however, in search of 

 a home are wise enough to make choice of a hollow 

 in a living tree, a considerable distance above the 

 ground, when such places are to be had ; then they 

 are pretty secure, for though the smaller black and 

 brown bears climb well, they are unable to break 

 into strong hives while compelled to exert them 

 selves to keep from falling, and at the same time to 

 endure the stings of the fighting bees without hav 

 ing their paws free to rub them off. But woe to 

 the black bumblebees discovered in their mossy 



