Aboitt Bears 329 



That bear was the sort of individual that 

 spoils the reputation of an innoxious breed of 

 animals, for the Isabelline bear is in truth not 

 savage, and, in fact, has little to recommend him 

 to the sportsman but his pelt. A red bear's skin 

 in good condition, as it must be honestly stated 

 they rarely are, is very fine. 



Kather than to incidents of the hair-breadth 

 kind, the recollection of the sportsman that has 

 spent many hours in red-bear-land will turn to 

 scenes of a different sort. Big brown puppy-like 

 beasts rolling over one another in play on a grassy 

 slope ; a mamma with a pair of fluffy babies at 

 heel, teaching them the rudiments of honey hunt- 

 ing may he not, like some one I know, be haunted 

 by the wails of the retreating nursery after a bullet 

 has ended the mother's days. 



He will remember how he found an old bear 

 curled up in the shade of a rock, his nose clasped 

 between his paws, and the comical sight he after- 

 wards presented as he danced up and down on his 



hind legs to find out who the , what the , 



had rolled all the stones down the hill on the top 

 of him ! 



It is possible, however, that our sportsman's 

 pleasantest recollections of red-bear-land will not 

 be mainly connected with bears at all. He will 

 think of the shade of giant firs in the heat of the 



