Bear-Hunting in the South. 



6 7 



he falls an easy prey to the hunter. The hunter never cheers his 

 pack unless he is in trouble and wants their assistance. 



IN THE FOREST. 



The bear usually makes his bed in the most impenetrable cane- 

 brake. He cuts and piles up heaps of cane until he has a comfort- 

 able spring mattress. He is very fastidious in his taste, and will 

 not remain in a wet bed ; so, after every spell of bad weather, he 

 changes his quarters. In diet he has a wide, almost omniverous 

 taste. In the summer, he is very destructive to the farmer's corn- 

 fields, showing a decided relish for green corn or roasting ears, or fat 

 pig or mutton as a side-dish, not refusing a pumpkin by way of des- 

 sert. As the fall season approaches, he climbs after the wild grape, 

 the succulent muscadine, the acorn, and the persimmon, and leaves 

 his sign everywhere he travels, in heaps of hulls of pecan and scaly- 

 bark hickory nuts. This is called the lapping season, as he en- 

 sconces himself in a tree-lap and breaks the limbs to pieces, in 

 gathering nuts and fruits. He is also excessively fond of honey, and 

 is utterly regardless of bee-stings while tearing to pieces a nest of 

 wild bees from a hollow tree. 



