THE BLACK BEAR OF MUSKOKA 99 



On the occasion of my first camp on Trout Lake, 

 I had just finished peeling potatoes, and thrown 

 some large slices of pork on the frying-pan, when 

 I chanced to look up, and saw a large black bear 

 watching me from a thick bush about a dozen 

 yards distant. I was horribly scared and rushed 

 into the hut, leaving the cooking to its fate, but 

 when I peeped out again the bear had gone. I 

 had only been in Canada about three weeks, and 

 did not relish an attack from such a massive- 

 looking foe. This bear, or some other bear, 

 returned to the same spot half a dozen times 

 before my companions returned, and the adventure 

 nearly terminated in a tragedy, as I fired upon 

 the leader in the uncertain light of evening, 

 mistaking him for a bear. This mishap turned 

 out a friend in disguise. I was never left alone 

 again to guard the camp. 



President Roosevelt, in his admirable book, 

 Big Game Hunting, 1899, writes that 



"The black bear is a timid, cowardly animal. 

 One of the standing riddles of American zoology 

 is the fact that the black bear, which is easier 

 killed and less prolific than the wolf, should hold 

 its own in the land better than the latter ; this 

 being directly the reverse of what occurs in 



