CURIOSITY OF BIRDS AND BEASTS 587 



the first letter. This almost makes it sound like 

 " iough," but u ow " comes nearer to it. I have never 

 seen the female fox bark, although she probably answers 

 the male. 



A bear when surprised makes a noise in its throat 

 like " oug," and ends through its nose with " i-s-s-s "; 

 but when talking together they say "ou-e-e-ee! " with 

 variations. 



When the stillness of the night is broken by the 

 scream of a puma the sound does not lull one to sleep, 

 although after the novelty of the noise has worn off the 

 scream of this beast will probably do no more than make 

 the camper roll over, grumble a little, and then doze off 

 again to Nemo's Land. But when an old she-grizzly 

 with cubs spends a quarter of an hour sniffling around 

 the hem of the tent and you are armed only with a five- 

 ounce trout rod, the experience is not at all conducive 

 to sound, dreamless slumber. 



One night, when we were camped on the Jocko, in 

 Montana, the tents had been placed in a circle with the 

 doors facing out. This was for privacy, and gave us 

 all dressing-rooms of miles in extent, because each door 

 faced away from the other. On this particular night 



A BEAR ENTERED THE CIRCLE, 



and, as all our doors faced the other way, we could 

 not see the creature, but anyone could have heard* it 

 a mile away. The bear ate up all our butter, and 

 in the morning the butter pail looked as if it had 

 been scoured with sapolio. As the only arms we carried 



