A TASTE OF MAINE BIRCH 119 



by and by nothing is left. Spruce, hemlock, pop- 

 lar, the barks of various trees, everything within 

 reach, is cropped close. When the hunter comes 

 upon one of these yards the problem for him to 

 settle is, Where are the moose ? for it is absolutely 

 necessary that he keep on the lee side of them. 

 So he considers the lay of the land, the direction 

 of the wind, the time of day, the depth of the 

 snow, examines the spoor, the cropped twigs, and 

 studies every hint and clew like a detective. Uncle 

 Nathan said he could not explain to another how 

 he did it, but he could usually tell in a few minutes 

 in what direction to look for the game. His expe- 

 rience had ripened into a kind of intuition or winged 

 reasoning that was above rules. 



He said that most large game, — deer, caribou, 

 moose, bear, — when started by the hunter and not 

 much scared, were sure to stop and look back before 

 disappearing from sight; he usually waited for this 

 last and best chance to fire. He told us of a huge 

 bear he had seen one morning while still-hunting 

 foxes in the fields; the bear saw him, and got into 

 the woods before he could get a good shot. In her 

 course, some distance up the mountain, was a bald, 

 open spot, and he felt sure when she crossed this 

 spot she would pause and look behind her; and 

 sure enough, like Lot's wife, her curiosity got the 

 better of her; she stopped to have a final look, and 

 her travels ended there and then. 



Uncle Nathan had trapped and shot a great many 

 bears, and some of his experiences revealed an un- 



