Trail and Camp-Fire 



which the river flowed. These berries occu- 

 pied all the bear's attention, and he did not 

 notice the men who stood in plain sight on 

 the other side of the stream. He walked 

 slowly along from bush to bush, raising his 

 head and wrapping his tongue around the 

 branches, and then stripping off berries and 

 leaves alike by a downward pull. When he 

 had cleared the lower branches, he stood on 

 his hind feet, and pulling down the higher 

 branches with his forepaws, he stripped them 

 in the same way. All his motions were de- 

 liberate, and the way in which he gathered the 

 food with mouth and tongue reminded me of 

 a cow pulling apples from a low-growing tree. 

 I watched him with great interest until he 

 had approached within perhaps seventy-five 

 yards of where we stood. Then, fearing that 

 he would smell us, I fired at the white spot in 

 his breast, and, as the smoke lifted, had a dis- 

 solving view of his hips as they disappeared in 

 the undergrowth. When we had pushed across 

 the river in the canoe, we found blood on the 

 weeds where he had vanished, and a little 

 further in the forest came upon the bear, 

 comfortably curled up on his side with his 



paws over his nose. 



224 



