THE BLACK BEAR OF PENNSYLVANIA 23 



ture glowing with, fierce energy, it presents a front 

 to unnerve a novice or anyone but an experienced 

 hunter. With terrible blows it beats off the dogs as 

 though they were rabbits, and, charging them, crushes 

 a dog's skull as though it were an egg shell. Nothing 

 but a rifle ball in a vital spot will then check the ani- 

 mal in its furious rage. Then the old warrior falls 

 on the field of battle, and the hunter feels a splendid 

 thrill. 



Parker Run flows into Portage Creek, two miles 

 west of Keating Summit. Its source is six miles 

 south, in the township of Norwich, in McKean Coun- 

 ty, Pa. In 1860 the passenger pigeons had a nesting 

 city on the old salt works Parker Run and some 

 timber was felled', to get the squabs. Later a thrifty 

 young forest sprang up, and wild grape vines trailed 

 over the young trees, bending down the tops and the 

 branches, under loads of frost grapes, and the damp 

 snows of fall, making a jungle almost impenetrable 

 by man, and an ideal resort for bears that feast on 

 wild grapes. 



On the north, in township of Roulette, in Potter 

 County, dwelt Edwin R. Grimes and his sons, Walter 

 Rea and Edwin Grimes, Junior, who loved to hunt 

 Bruin through late autumn. Edwin, Senior, saw 

 many swarms of honey bees, deserting their hives, 

 fly toward Parker Run, so they reasoned that bears 

 would congregate in that forest to get the wild honey, 

 ano! they built a log cabin near the wild grape vines, 

 to be near their prey. On the south were tracts of 



