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•20-2 FUUKST IJFK IN ACADIK. 



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the dry Hlopos of tlic woods and dovoiircd. The settlers 

 say that the bear, whik; killing his vi(ttiin (which moans 

 and lu'Uows piteousl) all the while he is beating it to 

 death in thii swamp), will every now and then retire 

 to the woods behind and listen for any aj»])roaehing 



!'B^ signs of reseue, prior to returning and finishing his 



1st' work. This wicked ajjpetite of his often leads to his 



^ destruction ; for a search being entailed for the missing 



beast, and the remains found, the avenger, on the follow- 

 ing evening, armed with a gun, goes out to waylay the 

 bear, who is sure to revisit the carcase. It would never 

 do to remain in andjush near the sj)ot, for the villain 

 ,j, always comes back on the watch, planting his feet 



;>• as cautiously as an Indian creeping on moose, with all 



"''■'■ his senses on the (jui vive. So the man, finding l)y his 



track in which direction he had retreated from the car- 

 ■^' ' case, goes back into the woods some quarter of a mile or 



so, and then secretes himself; and Mooin, not suspecting 

 V any ambuscade at this distance from the scene of his 



1'5 recent feasting, comes along towards sundown, hand over 



hand, and probably meets his just fate. Young moose, 

 too, often fall victims to the bear, though he would 

 never succeed in an attempt on the life of a full-grown 

 ')'' animal. 



The bear is conscious of being a villain, and will never 

 look a man in the face. This I have observed in the 

 case of tame animals, and marked the change of expres- 

 sion in their little treacherous black eye) about the size 

 of a small marble) just before they were about to do 

 something mischievous. In their quickness of temper, and 

 ^, in the suddenness with which the usually perfectly dull 



f'V'i and unmeaning eye is lighted up with the most wicked 



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