286 AUDUBON THE NATURALIST. 
son, and we have known some individuals to be 
hoaxed by its being represented as such. 
Perhaps the most acrid vegetable eaten by the 
bear is the Indian turnip, which is so pungent 
that we have seen people almost distracted by i, 
when they had inadvertently put a piece in their 
mouth. 
The black bear is a remarkably swift runner 
when first alarmed, although it is generally 
“treed,” that is, forced to ascend a tree, when 
pursued by dogs and hunters on horseback. We 
were, not very long since, when on an expedition 
in the mountains of Virginia, leisurely making” 
our way along a road through the forest after a 
long hunt for deer and turkeys, with our gun 
thrown behind our shoulders and our arms rest- 
ing on each end of it, when, although we had 
been assured there were no bears in that neigh- 
bourhood, we suddenly perceived one above us 
on a little acclivity at one side of the road, where 
it was feeding, and nearly concealed by the 
bushes. The bank was only about fifteen feet 
high, and the bear not more than twenty paces 
from us, so we instantly disengaged our gun, and 
cocking both barrels, expected to “ fill our bag” 
nt one shot, but at the instant and before we 
could fire, the bear, with a celerity that astonished 
us, disappeared. We rushed up the bank and 
found the land on the top nearly level for a long 
