THE BLACK BEAR. 
A DEAD-FALL TRAP. 
All I had to fight with was a solid sketch- 
book, while, by some strange fatality, the 
Indian had even lost his knife out of its 
sheath in our climb. I was looking about for 
some way of escape, when I noticed that the 
bear on the hill-side had vanished, and the 
one that crossed over on the log had moved 
toward the one sitting on his haunches. They 
sat about ten feet apart, and made the 
strangest noise I ever heard. Commencing 
with the sniff peculiar to the bear, the noise 
was prolonged into a deep, gutteral growl, 
accompanied by a peculiar champing of the 
jaws. At that moment, a large stone, evi- 
dently dislodged by the bear that had vanished 
from the hill-side, came tumbling down the 
ravine. It struck on the solid ledge on which 
we were crouching, and broke into pieces. 
Instinctively looking up, in apprehension that 
the fragment might be the advance guard of 
an avalanche, we lost sight of the two bears, 
and never saw them again. Alarmed by the 
falling stone, they had swiftly and stealthily 
gone away. The guide said that the two 
bears which were on the ledge with us were 
males, and that, as it was the pairing sea- 
son, the growling we were treated to was 
merely the preliminary of a terrible fight. 
During the pairing season, the males con- 
gregate in bands and scour the forest, growl- 
ing, snarhng, and fighting. On such occasions, 
all prudent hunters avoid an encounter with 
them. The females are savage when suckling 
their young, and will fight to the death in 
their protection. At all other seasons both 
males and females avoid a meeting with 
human beings, but if attacked and wounded, 
or brought to bay, the black bear is a foe 
to be dreaded. Their keen scent and acute 
hearing enable them to detect the approach 
of an enemy, and to keep out of his way. 
Sometimes the black bear is hunted with 
dogs trained for the purpose. The dogs are 
not taught to seize the game, but to nip his 
heels, yelp round him, and retard his prog- 
ress until the hunters come up and dis- 
patch him with their rifles. Common yelping 
curs possessed of the requisite pluck are 
best adapted for the purpose. Large dogs 
with sufficient courage to seize a bear would 
have but a small chance with him, for he 
could disable them with one blow of his 
powerful paw. Another way of hunting is to 
track Bruin to his winter den, and either 
smoke or dig him out, when he may be dis- 
patched by a blow on the head with the 
poll of an ax as he struggles out. Various 
kinds of traps, set-guns, and dead-falls are 
also employed against him. A very efficient 
means of capture is a steel trap, with double 
springs so powerful that a lever is necessary 
in setting it. The trap is placed in runs 
or pathways known to be frequented by 
bears, and concealed, care being taken not 
SKULL, FORE AND HIND PAWS OF THE BLACK BEAR. 
