THE BLACK BEAR 133 



willow, I saw where a coyote had leaped among 

 dead pine limbs after a rabbit; this crashing had 

 caused cub to hide until he could discover what 

 was happening. 



The cub, too, had gone over to try to discover 

 what had happened. But he had circled nearly 

 around the danger point before going to it. 

 The rabbit had escaped and the cub had followed 

 the tracks and in two or three places had put his 

 nose down into them to sniff. While about this 

 a gopher moving under the snow had attracted 

 him and he had walked slowly, with short steps, 

 until close, then leaped and struck with left 

 hand like a man after a grasshopper. A few 

 drops of blood on the snow showed that he had 

 made a capture. 



The cub had gone to the beaver house and 

 climbed on top; here he had clawed a few times 

 then sat down dog-like. Then he had stuck his 

 nose in the snow on top of the house to find 

 out the nose-news from within, I suppose. As I 

 stood on the house I could see tracks of some- 

 thing else that led behind a clump of pines about 

 fifty feet away. Behind these pines a coyote had 

 stood out of sight and, I suppose, watched the 

 cub. This coyote had only three feet. One hind 

 foot had been off for some time, for in a few places 

 the stump had touched and left an impression in 

 the snow which showed that it was healed. 



