INSTINCTS OF THE BEAR. 57 



We have seen numerous bear tracks within the past two days ; and 

 occasionally the animals themselves, two of which we killed. Several 

 that we saw, however, escaped ; and we had frequent occasions to regret 

 the loss of our bear-dog, as we might have killed many more with his 

 assistance. 



John Bull, who still continued to ride the same fractious horse which 

 he had in the buffalo hunt, made'a brush with a large bear to-day, but 

 did not succeed in getting alongside of him, as the horse became per- 

 fectly mad and unmanageable the moment he got sight of the bear. 

 This is often the case ; and there are but few horses that can be made 

 to approach one of these animals. 



Several anecdotes, which were related to me by our guide, concerning 

 the habits of the black bear, would seem to entitle him to a higher 

 position in the scale of animal instinct and sagacity than that of 

 almost any other quadruped. For instance, he says that before making 

 his bed to lie down, the animal invariably goes several hundred yards 

 with the wind, at a distance from his track. Should an enemy now 

 come upon his track, he must approach him with the wind ; and with 

 the bear's keen sense of smell, he is almost certain to be made aware of 

 his presence, and has time to escape before he is himself seen. 



He also states that when pursued, the bear sometimes takes refuge in 

 caves in the earth or rocks, where the hunter often endeavors, by making 

 a smoke at the entrance, to force him out ; but it not unfrequently hap- 

 pens, that instead of coming out when the smoke becomes too oppressive, 

 he very deliberately advances to the fire, and with his fore feet beats 

 upon it until it is extinguished, then retreats into the cave. This he 

 assured me he had often seen. Although these statements would seem 

 to endow bruin with something more than mere animal instinct, and 

 evince a conception of the connexion between cause and effect, yet 

 another anecdote which was related to me would go to prove this curi- 

 ous quadruped one of the most stupid fellows in the brute creation. 



My informant says, that when the bear cannot be driven out of 

 the cave by smoke, it sometimes becomes necessary for the hunter to 

 take his rifle, and with a torch to enter the cavern in search of him. 

 One would suppose this a very hazardous undertaking, and that the 

 animal would soon eject the presumptuous intruder ; but, on the con- 

 trary, as soon as he sees the light approaching, he sits upright on his 

 haunches, and with his fore paws covers his face and eyes, and remains 

 in this position until the light is removed. Thus the hunter is enabled 

 to approach as close as he desires without danger, and taking deadly 

 aim with his faithful rifle, poor bruin is slain. These facts have been 



