262 OF THE ANIMALS OF CHASE. 



they feed, in the wooded swamps. The young ones 

 fall easy victims : but the older sometimes escape, 

 after suffering terrible lacerations from the claws 

 of their formidable foe. The stag or fox hound, is 

 not readily induced to pursue the bear. On two 

 occasions, only, have I seen them put to the proof; 

 on one, they actually skulked^ bristling up their 

 hair, and showing insuperable repugnance to pro- 

 ceed. On the other they did manage to screw their 

 courage to the sticking place; but soon left the 

 chase, with alacrity, to pursue a deer that crossed 

 their trail. In such a chase, the cur is superior to 

 the hound. The largest bear I have seen in the low 

 country, was shot by my friend, Col. Ashe, of St. 

 Paul's. He has had him well preserved ; and the 

 visitor is startled, on entering his country mansion, 

 to find his effigy, erect and life-like, keeping sentry, 

 as it were, in the hall. From these particulars, the 

 reader will infer, that the bear, though sometimes 

 encountered by accident, is too seldom to be found, 

 and too hard to be approached, to be made an ordi- 

 nary and regular object of sport! 



THE WILD-CAT Abounds in the lower country of 

 Carolina. He frequents the deep swamps, covered 

 by almost impenetrable thickets. He seeks his prey 

 chiefly, but not exclusively, by night. He is very 



