92 



THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY 



On the day of the present hunt, I was joined by a very 

 particular friend, and a great huntsman, and we took with 

 us, for our day's sport, nine dogs, and two men to assist 

 leading the dogs — five of these animals were experienced 

 and well broken, but the other four were young, and about, 

 for the first time, to range the forest after Bear. Our first 

 course was direct to a mountain, where, we were confident, 

 we should find Bears; we moved off at a rapid pace, and 

 soon reached our place of destination. This mountain was 

 covered with beech and chesnut trees, and the Bears had 

 visited these so often, that their tracks were numerous, 

 but old; at length we came to a spot where a Bear had been 

 scratching up the snow in search of food, and which he 

 had left only the night previous; we followed his track for 

 about one mile, when our dogs aroused him from his rest- 

 ing place. Our old dogs were under such excellent com- 

 mand, that we kept them constantly by our side, until we 

 started the Bear afresh, when we let them off, in pursuit. 

 Two of the dogs were hounds, and would constantly give 

 tongue, whilst tlie curs would proceed silently in chase, 

 and keep ahead of the former ; and, owing to this 

 circumstance, the Bear was often surprised, because his 

 attention having been attracted by the yelping of the 

 hounds, would, as he thought, keep beyond reach of them, 

 without putting himself to unnecessary speed — when, to 

 his surprise, the silent dogs would often be close at his 

 heels, and coming up to him, would engage in con- 

 flict, and stop him; this, we could always tell, as all tiie 

 dogs would then join in general cry, when we would 

 take the nearest course, b)^ crossing in the direction of the 

 sound. 



On coming up to the combatants, we found the Bear, 

 an exceedingly large animal, had already killed a young, 

 and bitten one of the old dogs, so badly, that he could 

 not remove from the bed,* but on our approach, he made 

 off again, fighting the dogs as he ran, and showed much 

 aversion to treeing, and would, therefore, enter swamps 

 and windfalls, but being so closely pursued by the dogs, 

 no artifice of his would avail him, and had, at last, recourse 

 to a large tree, where he remained free from his perse- 

 cutors, who were assembled beneath him barking to but 

 little purpose. 



It may, perhaps, be worthy to remark, for the informa- 

 tion of those who know but little of these animals, that old 



• A bed is a Icnn used among hunters, signifying Ihe spot where a Rear 

 makes a stand against his aflversaries, and is more particularly applied when 

 t4ie ground is covered with snow, as he generally conlines himself to one spot, 

 which is completely beaten down by the belligerents, and varies from ten to 

 twenty feel in diameter. Sometimes the Bear gives battle sitting in an upright 

 posture, and again, while laying on his back ; and it frequently occurs, that he 

 succeeds in beating ofl'all his enemies, and will chase ihem some distance from 

 this spot, but, unless he makes ofl" to some other neighbourhood, will, universally, 

 return again to the bed to wail for a fresh attack. 



Bears seldom tree, to clear themselves of dogs, if there la 

 any possibility of escape without it, and when necessity 

 compels them to this course, they will, on the approach 

 of a human creature, in despite of every obstacle which 

 may oppose them, descend to the ground, and take to 

 flight; but young Bears will climb trees immediately, and 

 often suffer hunters to approach beneath, and shoot them. 

 Knowing the present animal to be an old and formidable 

 antagonist, and judging from the noise of the dogs, that he 

 was in a tree, my companion thought it most advisable to 

 destroy him at once, lest he should kill more of our dogs, 

 as by this time he had disabled another; he accordingly 

 approached with much caution, until within about eighty 

 yards of the tree, in which the Bear had taken refuge, 

 when, with much deliberation, he fired at his head, and, 

 being a first rate sjiot, I felt confident that the animal would 

 have fallen dead; but, to our great surprise, the shot did not 

 take effect, owing to the ball having struck, and glanced 

 from a small dead limb, which was immediately in front of 

 the Bear's head, but completely unnoticed by my friend. 

 At the report of his rifle, the Bear descended backwards, 

 for about ten feet, then doubled himself in the form of a 

 hoop, and fell to the ground. 



It is well known among hunters, that, should an old Bear 

 be surprised on a tree, he will never descend, by sliding 

 down, but, like this Bear, roll himself up and fall, some- 

 times from a most astonishing height, even forty or fifty 

 feet, in which case he always alights on his rump, and 

 when on the side of a hill, will roll like a hoop to the bot- 

 tom. I have, in several instances, shot them after such 

 falls, and found the extent of injury received, was a few 

 slight bruises near the root of the tail. Experienced dogs 

 are aware of this stratagem of the Bear, and, so soon as he 

 lets go his hold, they will run from under the tree, to avoid 

 his fall. This plan also, the Bear adopts to clear himself of 

 dogs, as he knows, that should he descend the tree gradu- 

 ally, he must encounter a host of enemies, the moment he 

 reaches the ground. In the present instance, the dogs knew 

 the character of their antagonist, and ran so far from under 

 the tree, that the Bear had recovered from his fall, and ran 

 three hundred j-ards ere they could overtake him. The 

 battle now began to rage most furiously, and we were alarm- 

 ed for the fate of our dogs, and endeavoured to shoot 

 him but found it impossible to do so, without endan- 

 gering some of the dogs. He then laid on his back, and , 

 would frequently drag some of the dogs into him, in order 

 to squeeze them to death, but being broad across the chest, 

 failed to effect his purpose; this, the old dogs knew well, 

 and the moment he would seize them, they would close 

 in with his breast, and slip out backwards from him. 



Our presence excited the dogs to fight with the utmost 



