WATCHED BY WILD ANIMALS 



times I braced myself on a near-by large limb 

 and shook with all my might. Often I was able 

 to move the end of the limb rapidly back and 

 forth, but the cubs easily clung on. At times 

 they had hold with only one paw occasionally 

 with only a single claw; but never could I shake 

 them free. 



The affair ended by my cutting a limb to 

 which a cub was clinging nearly off with my 

 hatchet. Suddenly breaking the remaining hold 

 of the limb I tossed it and the tenacious little 

 cub out, tumbling toward the earth. The cub 

 struck the earth lightly, and before I had fully 

 recovered from nearly tumbling after him came 

 scrambling up the tree trunk beneath me ! 



One spring day while travelling in the moun- 

 tains I paused in a whirl of mist and wet snow 

 to look for the trail. I could see only a few feet 

 ahead. As I looked closely a bear emerged 

 from the gloom heading straight for me. Be- 

 hind her were two cubs. I caught an impatient 

 expression when she first saw me. She stopped, 

 and with a growl of anger wheeled and boxed 

 the cubs right and left like a worried, unpoised 

 mother. They vanished in the direction from 

 which they had come, the cubs being urged on 

 with lively spanks. 



Like most animals, the black bear has a local 

 habitation. His territory is twenty miles or 



