Bear Traits 



parently smaller, and, I think, a yearling or 

 two-year old black bear, raced out of the 

 bushes on the other side, and escaped without 

 a shot. Furious at losing both, I rushed into 

 the bushes to see if there were any more, and 

 a third, a cub, with a yelp of dismay, for I had 

 nearly trodden on him, scuttled up the spruce 

 stub. Walking around until I got him against 

 the light in the western sky, I am sorry to say 

 I shot and killed him. He was no larger than 

 a collie dog, and might much better have been 

 left to grow. Though she must have heard 

 him, and had the darkness to cover her ap- 

 proach, his faithless mother never returned, 

 but by her rapid flight helped to dispel in my 

 mind another historic illusion as to the invari- 

 able ferocity of she-bears. 



Of course bears are not always so timid 

 about the scent of man as in the two cases I 

 have mentioned. I am inclined to think that 

 those were, perhaps, rather exceptional. Sev- 

 eral times I have known grizzly bears, and 

 once a black which in my experience has 

 appeared to be the more cautious species to 

 come boldly to baits around which our scent 

 must have been much more in evidence than 

 at either of the times just mentioned. At the 



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