A BEAR ADVENTURE. 



A GOOD deal has lately been written upon Indian 

 bears ; I would draw the attention of the reader to 

 far more interesting animals. This preference or 

 favouritism I have arrived at after a long acquain- 

 tance with the different species of both countries, 

 and all such sportsmen as have had similar advan- 

 tages as myself unanimously agree with me in think- 

 ing as I do. 



When the United States was a colony of Great 

 Britain, and during the subsequent war of 1812, 

 when our troops were constantly employed on out- 

 post duty often far beyond civilization very many 

 were the adventures that our sentries had with 

 Bruin, some ludicrous and others serious, the 

 results of which were that the black bear was con- 

 sidered a very dangerous beast to interfere with, 

 and a very amusing as well as wise brute if left 

 alone. 



When I first visited North America my greatest 

 ambition was to shoot a bear, so I sought such 

 localities as these animals were known to be plentiful 

 in ; thus I soon made acquaintance with the game I 

 longed for, one of the rencontres with which I will 

 take from my diary, 



In following a flight of ruffed grouse, which had 

 flushed so far beyond range as to prevent my getting 

 a shot at them, I came across a perfect brake of wild 

 grapes. I could not withstand the temptation of 

 halting for a feed, for they had been touched with 



