Old Ephraim, the Grisly Bear 77 



the neighborhood, choosing by preference 

 some bit where the young growth is thick and 

 the ground strewn with bowlders and fallen 

 logs. Often, especially if in a restless mood 

 and roaming much over the country, it merely 

 makes a temporary bed, in which it lies but 

 once or twice ; and again it may make a more 

 permanent lair or series of lairs, spending 

 many consecutive nights in each. Usually the 

 lair or bed is made some distance from the 

 feeding ground ; but bold bears, in very wild 

 localities, may lie close by a carcass, or in the 

 middle of a berry ground. The deer-killing 

 bear above mentioned had evidently dragged 

 two or three of his victims to his den, which 

 was under an impenetrable mat of bullberries 

 and dwarf box-alders, hemmed in by a cut 

 bank on one side and a wall of gnarled cotton- 

 woods on the other. Round this den, and ren- 

 dering it noisome, were scattered the bones of 

 several deer and a young steer or heifer. 

 When we found it we thought we could easily 

 kill the bear, but the fierce, cunning beast must 

 have seen or smelt us, for though we lay in 

 wait for it long and patiently, it did not come 

 back to its place ; nor, on our subsequent visits, 

 did we ever find traces of its having done so. 

 Bear are fond of wallowing in the water, 



