COMIC CONDUCT OF A BEAR 



back to the tree and seemed to rear itself against it, for we 

 could hear and feel the grating of its claws upon the 

 bark ! 



This continued for some time the brute purring 

 loudly all the while then suddenly, as if something had 

 alarmed it, it dropped back to the ground, and with a loud 

 booming roar, bounded off into the forest. 



I now crawled across the platform, and rousing my 

 companion, who had been sleeping peacefully through it 

 all, we sat on in anxious expectation, hoping to hear the 

 beast return, for the moon was now rising, and soon there 

 should be light enough to see it, and possibly to obtain a 

 shot. 



An hour or two went by, but, except for an occasional 

 stirring of the jungle in the distance, there were no sounds 

 of any animal moving near the pool. But as the night 

 drew on the forest seemed awakening into life. The 

 sounds we had heard before gradually grew louder, and 

 there was a sense of movement all around us. 



Presently the jungle facing us was violently agitated, 

 and a bear of the ordinary black species came waddling 

 into view. Like all his kind, he was an unkempt, untidy- 

 looking beast, with bandy legs and of a fussy, inquisitive 

 disposition, stopping every second to examine something 

 in his path. 



Finally, reaching the water's edge, he sat up on his 

 haunches and, with a most comical expression on his face, 

 appeared to be wondering how he had got there ! Then, 

 for no apparent reason, seemed suddenly to lose his temper, 

 giving expression to his feelings in loud, sharp snorts of 

 disapproval. The next moment he had recovered and was 

 down on all fours again, grubbing about the ground as if 

 searching for something he had lost, his movements 

 being so ridiculously human that it was as much as we 

 could do to keep from laughing out. 



He now commenced to dig beneath some roots, and 

 extracting a spongy-looking mass, divided it with his 

 claws, and selecting certain portions, devoured them with 

 evident approval ; for it was a nest of white ants he had 

 found a dish much esteemed by Indian bears. 



Picking out the daintiest morsels more carefully as his 



F 65 



