THE BLACK BEAR COMEDIAN 105 



esting, and bear-like. Occasionally they climbed 

 and started wrestling far out on a limb. Some- 

 times they fell off, but caught a limb below 

 with their claws, and without a pause, swung 

 up again or else dropped to another limb. Once 

 they scrambled down the trunk within a few feet 

 of the bottom; and as they raced up again the 

 lower one snapped at the hind legs of the upper 

 one and finally, attaching himself to the other 

 with a forepaw, pulled him loose from the tree 

 trunk. The upper one thus exchanged places 

 with the lower one and the lively scramble up 

 the trunk continued. 



i After a while one curled up in a place where 

 three or four limbs intersected the tree trunk 

 and went to sleep. The other went to sleep 

 on his back on a flattened limb near the top 

 of the tree. 



Realizing that the cubs would stay in the tree, 

 no matter what happened, I concluded to cap- 

 ture them. Though they had been having 

 lively exercise for two hours they were anything 

 but exhausted. Climbing into the tree I chased 

 them round from the bottom to the top; from the 

 top out on limbs, and from limbs to the bottom 

 but was unable to get within reach of them. 



Several times I drove one out on top of a 

 limb and then endeavoured to shake him off and 

 give him a tumble to the earth. A number of 



