THE BLACK BEAR. 41 



in and bite ; and again they strike with their 

 fore-paws. Two of my cowboys were origi- 

 nally from Maine, where I knew them well. 

 There they were fond of trapping bears, and 

 caught a good many. The huge steel gins, 

 attached by chains to heavy clogs, prevented 

 the trapped beasts from going far ; and when 

 found they were always tied tight round some 

 tree or bush, and usually nearly exhausted. 

 The men killed them either with a little 3 2-cali- 

 bre pistol or a hatchet. But once did they meet 

 with any difficulty. On this occasion one of 

 them incautiously approached a captured bear 

 to knock it on the head with his hatchet, but 

 the animal managed to partially untwist itself, 

 and with its free fore-arm made a rapid sweep 

 at him ; he jumped back just in time, the 

 bear's claws tearing his clothes after which 

 he shot it. Bears are shy and have very keen 

 noses ; they are therefore hard to kill by fair 

 hunting, living, as they generally do, in dense 

 forests or thick brush. They are easy enough 

 to trap, however. Thus, these two men, 

 though they trapped so many, never but once 

 killed them in any other way. On this occa- 

 sion one of them, in the winter, found in a 

 great hollow log a den where a she and two 

 well-grown cubs had taken up their abode, 

 and shot all three with his rifle as they burst 

 out. 



Where they are much hunted, bear become 

 purely nocturnal ; but in the wilder forests I 

 have seen them abroad at all hours, though 

 they do not much relish the intense heat of 



