Bear Traits 



afraid of him. I may mention that on one 

 occasion three mule deer crossed the slope a 

 little below the bears, so that I had the un- 

 usual experience of having four bears and 

 three deer in the field of the glass at one 

 time. 



The chief occupation of the bears while in 

 sight was turning over stones in search of 

 insects beneath, and it was most interesting 

 to watch their methods. A man turning over 

 a stone usually draws it over directly toward 

 himself, to the imminent danger of his toes ; 

 but a bear knows better than that. In the 

 case of a heavy stone, they would brace them- 

 selves with one foreleg and with the other 

 raise the stone and give it an outward sweep 

 well to one side, so that it would not strike 

 them in falling. The moment the stone was 

 over their heads went down, and they appar- 

 ently licked up such insects as were in sight, 

 though I was not near enough actually to see 

 this. Then usually one or two rapid sweeps 

 of a paw were made, probably to uncover 

 such insects as might have secreted them- 

 selves. One of the cubs would sometimes 

 join the mother in this search, but generally 



each worked independently. Imitating their 



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