Old Ephraim, the Grisly Bear 73 



up the camas roots, wild onions, and an occa- 

 sional luckless woodchuck or gopher. If food 

 is very plenty bears are lazy, but commonly 

 they are obliged to be very industrious, it be- 

 ing no light task to gather enough ants, beetles, 

 crickets, tumble-bugs, roots, and nuts to satisfy 

 the cravings of so huge a bulk. The sign of 

 a bear's work is, of course, evident to the 

 most unpracticed eye; and in no way can one 

 get a better idea of the brute's power than by 

 watching it busily working for its breakfast, 

 shattering big logs and upsetting bowlders by 

 sheer strength. There is always a touch of the 

 comic, as well as a touch of the strong and ter- 

 rible, in a bear's look and actions. It will tug 

 and pull, now with one paw, now with two, 

 now on all fours, now on its hind legs, in the 

 effort to turn over a large log or stone; and 

 when it succeeds it jumps round to thrust its 

 muzzle into the damp hollow and lap up the 

 affrighted mice or beetles while they are still 

 paralyzed by the sudden exposure. 



The true time of plenty for bears is the 

 berry season. Then they feast ravenously on 

 huckleberries, blueberries, kinnikinic berries, 

 buffalo berries, wild plums, elderberries, and 

 scores of other fruits. They often smash all 

 the bushes in a berry patch, gathering the fruit 



VOL. III. 4 



