286 THE BEAR FAMILY 



than the flesh, which is not to be compared with veni- 

 son or the mutton of the mountain sheep. 



The naturalists have classed the bears, as we have 

 observed, as flesh-eaters {Carnivora), but the brown 

 bear is literally omnivorous. One writer in Recreation 

 says, " he will eat anything from a honey-bee to a well- 

 greased saw-mill. His natural food is mast, roots, 

 berries, fruits, vegetables, insects, eggs and fish as well 

 as flesh. Like the deer these bears go to the lakes 

 and swamps in the summer-time, and then are said to 

 mix in their diet moUusks, reptiles, salamanders and 

 fish. In the autumn this bear consumes acorns and 

 mast. They often visit the orchards by night and are 

 said to prefer the sweet apples, and hence the trap is 

 often placed under the sweet-apple-trce. 



A black bear unmolested will always try to escape. 

 They may possibly follow and attack a person who 

 meets them unexpectedly and starts to run away. Ad- 

 vice not to run, at any rate, is given in the books, and 

 there is really no occasion for running. One writer 

 says he met a bear at short range which stood looking 

 at him, but that he " hallooed " at him and the bear 

 turned, walking slowly and once in a while looking 

 behind him ; then he went off at a run. 



The knowledge of what the bears are doing in any 

 locality is valuable to a sportsman when he goes to 

 seek them. When out " after his rations the bear is 

 a great traveller, but travels on system." The guides 

 who know the woods have of course some knowledge 

 of where the bears are feeding, and can read the many 

 signs which Bruin leaves in the woods. He tears old 

 stumps to pieces, overturns logs and stones in his 



