144 SPORT IN NORWAY. 



case it was ten to one the fabrication of some poacher 

 who sought to cast the blame of "elk-murder" on 

 Bruin's broad shoulders in order to avoid getting 

 into trouble himself. There is reason in this, and 

 little doubt but that poor Bruin has had to bear the 

 blame of countless infringements of the game laws 

 innocently. 



But that a bear will kill an elk when he gets an 

 opportunity I should be slow to disbelieve, even if the 

 following well-authenticated account did not solve the 

 question. In the autumn of 1850 two hunters in the 

 woods near Aamot in Osterda'l, suddenly came across a 

 bear which had just brought down an elk, and which 

 was so busy in sucking the blood that it was not aware 

 of the approach of danger, and accordingly paid dear 

 for its presumption. As it occurred in the proper 

 shooting season there was obviously no reason for 

 deception being practised on the part of the hunters. 



AYangenheim avers that in the forests of Lithuania 

 many elks are killed by the bears. 



"Bruin never ventures," he writes, "to approach a 

 herd of elk, but only looks out for an outlying deer, 

 approaching it stealthily till sufficiently near to give the 

 fatal spring. "When once he has got the animal tightly 

 hugged he commences to suck the blood from the 

 throat. His thirst being slaked, and the elk quite 

 dead, he then covers up the remains with leaves, 



