102 WATCHED BY WILD ANIMALS 
is ferocious—a wanton, cruel killer. He fights 
or works only when compelled to do so. He is 
not ferocious. He avoids man as though he were 
a pestilence. 
One day in climbing out on a cliff I acci- 
dentally dislodged a huge rock. This as it fell 
set a still larger rock going. The second rock 
in its hurtling plunge struck a tree in which a 
young black bear was sleeping. As the tree came 
to the earth the bear made haste to scamper up 
the nearest tree. But unfortunately the one up 
which he raced had lost its top by the same 
flying ton of stone, and he was able to get only 
a few yards above the earth. 
To get him to come down I procured a long 
pole and prodded him easily. At first, on the 
defensive, he slapped and knocked the pole to 
right and left. He was plainly frightened and 
being cornered was determined to fight. I 
proceeded gently and presently he calmed down 
and began playing with the pole. He played 
just as merrily as ever kitten played with a 
moving, tickling twig or string. 
The black bear is the most plausible bluffer 
I have ever seen. His hair bristling, upper lip 
stuck forward, and onrushing with a rapid 
volley of champing K-woof-f-f’s, he appears 
terrible. He pulls himself out of many a pre- 
dicament and obtains many an unearned morsel 
