ANIMAL SANCTUARIES 111 



that one of the maid-servants at the Mammoth 

 Hot Springs Hotel made a practice of feeding 

 them with lumps of sugar, and that some of the 

 animals would take the proffered dainties out of 

 her hands. On several occasions the bears have 

 been known to commandeer a supply of cr^mes- 

 tibles from the tents of camping parties, but as a 

 rule they are quite good natured, and if chased by 

 the tourist merely give an exhibition of their tree- 

 climbing powers in order to evade further pursuit. 

 Of late years, however, some of them have shown 

 signs of becoming somewhat aggressive towards 

 visitors — in aU probability as the result of their 

 having discovered that mankind without a gun 

 in his possession is a puny creature in comparison 

 to his bearship — so that, from time to time, a few 

 of them are caught and sent off to populate various 

 zoological gardens. 



The preservation of animal life in sanctuaries, 

 and the resulting fearlessness of the creatiures 

 towards human beings, gives the naturaUst an 

 opportunity of studying their habits under excep- 

 tionally favourable conditions, and also enables 

 the photographer to secure pictures of them with 

 greater facihty than would otherwise be possible. 

 Few of us, however, would care to emulate the deeds 

 of one camera enthusiast who, in the Yellowstone 

 Park, concealed himself amidst a garbage heap, 

 and then patiently waited for the bears to ap- 

 proach. 



In spite of the constant watchfulness of the 

 guardians of the Park, a certain amount of poaching 



