Photo by George Shiras, 3rd. 



fourte:e:n skunk picture:s wkri: obtained by the set camera and i?i.ashught 

 in ten days in the orange grove at ormond beach, ei.orida 



They showed nine differently marked skunks, ranging from an almost solid black (see page 

 812) to the almost white animal shown in this picture (see text, pages 804, 805) 



into the heavy bushes at a gait that did 

 our hearts good. While relieved by the 

 sudden change in the situation, no time 

 was lost shoving out into the deeper 

 water and soon we were on the way 

 again. 



Undoubtedly there are many, in good 

 faith or under the temptation of mag- 

 nifying the perils of the wilderne^:^ who 

 would attribute a deliberate attempt on 

 the^ part of this bear to kill us, from 

 which he was only deterred by ths ap- 

 parently courageous reception. This, in 

 the writer's judgment, was not the case 

 at all. Both sides were equally fright- 

 ened and both laboring under a misap- 

 prehension. This animal, with an un- 

 usual opportunity for catching calf elk 

 when swimming the swift waters at the 

 crossing, from his ambush on the bank 

 heard a commotion down the river, and, 

 with the notoriously poor eyesight of all 

 bears, thought he saw in our brown, can- 

 vas-covered forms and the splashing 

 paddles the game he sought, which was 



enough in a territory where man was 

 unknown to bring him down at his best 

 speed, the only thing that really counted 

 in such a raid. Had he meant to harm 

 us the sting of a pistol bullet and the ac- 

 companying demonstration would have 

 had no effect beyond aggravation. That 

 he had run into an unexpected gather- 

 ing, and that it was purely "a case of 

 mistaken identity," his hasty retreat suf- 

 ficiently proves, were it not already 

 known that the day has gone when any 

 bear in any part of the United States 

 will wantonly attack a man when unmo- 

 lested. 



At the next bend, however, as a mat- 

 ter of precaution, the axes were taken 

 out from under the outfit, and also a 

 heavy pole cut for "a crack on the nose," 

 which, according to Farrell, an old-time 

 bear hunter, was worth a dozen random 

 rifle shots. 



EIRST SIGNS O^ MOOSE 



With an increasing current and bad 

 log- jams the speed of the boat became 



813 



