THE BLACK BEAR, 23 



and is a less formidable opponent, though by no means to 

 be treated with contempt. He is characteristically curious, 

 and the traveller frequently finds himself inconvenienced 

 by the instinct which induces the creature to pry into 

 everything strange or novel. Numerous anecdotes of this 

 bear, of his curiosity, his boldness, and his shrewdness, 

 are scattered through the writings of American explorers. 

 Captain M'Clintock writes : — " Shortly after pitching our 

 tents, a bear was seen approaching. The guns were pre- 

 pared, men called in, and perfect silence maintained in our 

 little camp. The animal approached rapidly from to lee- 

 ward, taking advantage of every hummock to cover his 

 advance, until within seventy yards ; then, putting himself 

 in a sitting posture, he pushed forward with his hinder 

 legs, steadying his body with his fore legs outstretched. 

 In this mamier he advanced for about ten yards further ; 

 stopped a minute or two, intently eying our encampment, 

 and sniffing the air in evident doubt. Then he commenced 

 a retrograde movement by pushing himself backward 

 with his fore legs, as he had previously advanced with the 

 hinder ones. As soon as he presented his shoulder to us 

 Mr. Bradford and I fired, breaking a leg and otherwise 

 wounding him severely ; but it was not until he had got 

 three hundred yards off, and received six bullets, that we 

 succeeded in killing him." 



The black bear almost invariably hybernates. Selecting 

 a retired spot, under a fallen tree, he scratches away a 

 portion of the soil, and having ensconced his body in the 

 hollow thus made, is soon provided by the snow with a 

 close warm covering. He is hunted on account of his 



