A BEAR ' S WINTER RETREA T. 167 



yards in front of me. Without troubling myself to look 

 closely, I concluded it was a porcupine, animals which were 

 extremely common in the vicinity. Soon after a dog be- 

 longing to one of my companions passed me; stooping to 

 the trail he gave tongue, and went in pursuit at his best 

 possible speed. In a few moments I knew he had brought 

 something to bay, and, proceeding to his assistance, I found 

 a young bear, the size of a badger, treed in a six-inch sap- 

 ling. Where was the mother? Answer says, "Don't 

 know ;" for young Bruin, after a vixenish fight, was secured, 

 and, although half an hour elapsed in the operation, the old 

 lady still remained non est. 



It is very common for bears to be killed after they have 

 retired to their dormitory for the winter sleep. When liv- 

 ing near Lake Couchachin, in Canada, I assisted on such an 

 occasion. An Indian from Rama came to me in great 

 haste, with the hope I would sell him some ammunition. 

 From his earnestness and anxiety I knew that he had made 

 a valuable discovery, which after a little higgling was dis- 

 closed. He had found a bear's retreat in a hollow log, 

 nearly imbedded in snow, and the ammunition was for poor 

 Bruin's destruction. 



Stipulating that I should have a share of the sport, I sup- 

 plied the ammunition, and we started. The distance was 

 short. Mr. Chippewa Indian knocked on the log, and the 

 writer stood at the entrance. Poor Bruin at length forsook 

 his snug retreat, yawning and looking stupid as he emerged 

 into daylight, when a bullet at less than five yards settled 

 the matter. When a bear is thus housed in a log a heavy 

 vapor of steam, should the weather be calm, perceptibly 

 hangs over it. 



A friend, in the true sense of the word, and myself heard 

 of a small lake on the edges of New Hampshire and Maine, 

 that was reported to swarm with trout, and, as a tramp 



