134 Quadrupeds, 



his fore paws. The man fired (while his wife held a light) and killed the intruder. It 

 is difficult to hurt a bear with any weapon hut fire-arms : he fights with his fore paws 

 like a cat ; and so watchful is he, and so expert at warding off every blow that is made 

 at him, that it is next to impossible to strike his head, the only part in which he is vul- 

 nerable ; for you might about as well batter a feather-bed as the body of a bear, so en- 

 cased and shielded by an enormous layer of fat. In our climate, he becomes torpid 

 during winter, generally choosing for his hybernaculum some large hollow log, or a 

 cavity beneath the root of an overthrown tree. The species is numerous in all the 

 wooded parts of this continent, even to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 

 southern states, he commits depredations on the farmer's fields of maize, when the corn 

 is in that milky state called ' roasting ears,' so prized for boiling and eating as a table 

 dish, like green peas, or roasting whole on the cob. The bear manifests a singular 

 unity of taste with the farmer, and devours and treads down a large quantity, as he 

 finds no difficulty in climbing over the zigzag rail fence. I have been told that he 

 repeats his nightly visits to the same field ; and, what is singular, always, on such oc- 

 casions, mounts the fence, night after night, at the same spot where he got over the 

 first time. The planters take advantage of this regular habit, by fastening to the fence 

 a heavily loaded gun, at such an angle that it shall point at the bear's breast, as he 

 rises on his hind legs. The identical crossing place is easily known by his great tracks 

 in the soft earth. A stick is attached to the trigger, and this is made fast, at right an- 

 gles, to a transverse stick, resting on two forks about breast high, a few inches outside 

 the fence. The bear rears up to put his fore paws on the rails, and in getting over, 

 presses with his breast against the transverse stick, which drives back the trigger, and 

 poor Bruin instantly receives the reward of his dishonesty." — Gosse's ' Canadian Natu- 

 ralistj p. 286. 



Note on the Moose in Canada. You are probably aware that ow- 

 ing to the depth of snow in our woods, the moose deer cannot move 

 about much, and therefore congregate in small herds, and tread down 

 the snow : they feed on the branches of the trees, and extend the cir- 

 cle of their movements, as food becomes scarce : the snow accumu- 

 lates all round, except in the part constantly trodden, so that at length 

 they are confined in a sort of paddock, commonly called " a yard of 

 moose deer." To the edges of this yard parties go to shoot — a sport 

 almost as romantic as firing in a pig-sty. The Indians search out 

 these spots and mark their situation, well knowing the moose cannot 

 move out before the sunny days of March have caused a partial thaw, 

 and the surface is again hardened by frosty nights. The Indians, 

 having marked one of these paddocks, come to " les Anglais," and 

 drive a bargain something in this way : — that it will take so many 

 days to reach the moose-yard; that they are to be found in provisions 

 and have os. a day, and also £2. 10s. for every moose the geiitlemen 

 kill, and the meat and skin of the animal. If no gentlemen accept 

 the terms, they go alone, for the sake of the skin and the venison. In 

 making a bargain with these fellows, it is cheapest not to pay by the 



