120 SIGNS AND SEASONS 



usual degree of sagacity in this animal. One April, 

 when the weather began to get warm and thawy, 

 an old bear left her den in the rocks, and built a 

 large, warm nest of grass, leaves, and the bark of 

 the white cedar, under a tall balsam fir that stood 

 in a low, sunny, open place amid the mountains. 

 Hither she conducted her two cubs, and the family 

 began life in what might be called their spring resi- 

 dence. The tree above them was for shelter, and 

 for refuge for the cubs in case danger approached, 

 as it soon did in the form of Uncle Nathan. He 

 happened that way soon after the bear had moved. 

 Seeing her track in the snow, he concluded to fol- 

 low it. When the bear had passed, the snow had 

 been soft and sposhy, and she had "slumped," he 

 said, several inches. It was now hard and slippery. 

 As he neared the tree, the track turned and doubled, 

 and tacked this way and that, and led through the 

 worst brush and brambles to be found. This was 

 a shrewd thought of the old bear; she could thus 

 hear her enemy coming a long time before he drew 

 very near. When Uncle Nathan finally reached the 

 nest, he found it empty, but still warm. Then he 

 began to circle about and look for the bear's foot- 

 prints or nailprints upon the frozen snow. Not find- 

 ing them the first time, he took a larger circle, then 

 a still larger; finally he made a long de'tour, and 

 spent nearly an hour searching for some clew to the 

 direction the bear had taken, but all to no purpose. 

 Then he returned to the tree and scrutinized it. 

 The foliage was very dense, but presently he made 



