AMONG THE ANIMALS OF THE YOSEMTTE 185 



Sheep-owners and their shepherds have killed 

 a great many bears, mostly by poison and traps 

 of various sorts. Bears are fond of mutton, and 

 levy heavy toll on every flock driven into the 

 mountains. They usually come to the corral at 

 night, climb in, kill a sheep with a stroke of the 

 paw, carry it off a little distance, eat about half 

 of it, and return the next night for the other 

 half; and so on all summer, or until they are 

 themselves killed. It is not, however, by direct 

 killing, but by suffocation through crowding 

 against the corral wall in fright, that the great- 

 est losses are incurred. From ten to fifteen 

 sheep are found dead, smothered in the corral, 

 after every attack ; or the walls are broken, and 

 the flock is scattered far and wide. A flock 

 may escape the attention of these marauders for 

 a week or two in the spring ; but after their 

 first taste of the fine mountain-fed meat the 

 visits are persistently kept up, in spite of all 

 precautions. Once I spent a night with two 

 Portuguese shepherds, who were greatly troubled 

 with bears, from two to four or five visiting 

 them almost every night. Their camp was near 

 the middle of the Park, and the wicked bears, 

 they said, were getting worse and worse. Not 

 waiting now until dark, they came out of the 

 brush in broad daylight, and boldly carried off 

 as many sheep as they liked. One evening, 

 before sundown, a bear, followed by two cubs, 



