92 
THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY 
On the day of the present hunt, I was joined by a very 
particular friend, and a great huntsman, and we took with 
us, for our day’s sport, nine dogs, and two men to assist 
leading the dogs — five of these animals were experienced 
and well broken, but the other four were young, and about, 
for the first time, to range the forest after Bear. Our first 
course was direct to a mountain, where, we were confident, 
we should find Bears; we- moved off at a rapid pace, and 
soon reached our place of destination. This mountain was 
covered with beech and chesnut trees, and the Bears had 
visited these so often, that their tracks were numerous, 
but old; at length we came to a spot where a Bear had been 
scratching up the snow, in search of food, and which he 
had left only the night previous; we followed his track for 
about one mile, when our dogs aroused him from his rest- 
ing place. Our old dogs were under such excellent com- 
mand, that we kept them constantly by our side, until we 
started the Bear afresh, when we let them off, in pursuit. 
Two of the dogs were hounds, and would constantly give 
tongue, whilst the curs would proceed silently in chase, 
and keep ahead of the former ; and, owing to this 
circumstance, the Bear was often surprised, because his 
attention having been attracted by the yelping of the 
hounds, would, as he thought, keep beyond reach of them, 
without putting himself to unnecessary speed — when, to 
his surprise, the silent dogs would often be close at his 
heels, and, coming up to him, would engage in con- 
flict, and stop him; this, we could always tell, as all the 
dogs would then join in general cry, when we would 
take the nearest course, by crossing in the direction of the 
sound. 
On coming up to the combatants, we found the Bear, 
an exceedingly large animal, and had already killed a 
young, and bitten one of the old dogs, so badly, that he 
could not remove from the bed*' but on our approach, he 
made off again, fighting the dogs as he ran, and showed 
much aversion to treeing, and would, therefore, enter 
swamps and windfalls, but being so closely pursued by the 
dogs, no artifice of his would avail him, and had, at last, 
recourse to a large tree, where he remained free from his 
persecutors, who were assembled beneath him barking to 
but little purpose. 
It may, perhaps, be worthy to remark, for the informa- 
tion of those who know but little of these animals, that old 
* A bed is a term used among' hunters, signifying the spot where a Bear 
makes a stand against his adversaries, and is more particularly applied when 
the ground is covered with snow, as he generally confines himself to one spot, 
which is completely beaten down by the belligerents, and varies from ten to 
twenty feet in diameter. Sometimes the Bear gives battle sitting in an upright 
posture, and again, while laying on his back; and it frequently occurs, that he 
succeeds in beating off all his enemies, and will chase them some distance from 
this spot, but, unless he makes off to some other neighbourhood, will, universally, 
return again to the bed to wait for a fresh attack. 
Bears seldom tree, to clear themselves of dogs, if there is 
any possibility of escape without it, and when necessity 
compels them to this course, they will, on the approach 
of a human creature, in despite of every obstacle which 
may oppose them, descend to the ground, and take to 
flight; but young Bears will climb trees immediately, and 
often suffer hunters to approach beneath, and shoot them. 
Knowing the present animal to be an old and formidable 
antagonist, and judging from the noise of the dogs, that he 
was in a tree, my companion thought it most advisable to 
destroy him at once, lest he should kill more of our dogs, 
as by this time he had disabled another; he accordingly 
approached with much caution, until within about eighty 
yards of the tree, in which the Bear had taken refuge, 
when, with much deliberation, he fired at his head, and, 
being a first rate shot, I felt confident that the animal would 
have fallen dead; but, to our great surprise, the shot did not 
take effect, owing to the ball having struck, and glanced 
from a small dead limb, which was immediately in front of 
the Bear’s head, but completely unnoticed by my friend. 
At the report of his rifle, the Bear descended backwards, 
for about ten feet, then doubled himself in the form of a 
hoop, and fell to the ground. 
It is well known among hunters, that, should an old Bear 
be surprised on a tree, he will never descend, by sliding 
down, but, like this Bear, roll himself up and fall, some- 
times from a most astonishing height, even forty or fifty 
feet, in which case he always alights on his rump, and 
when on the side of a hill, will roll like a hoop to the bot- 
tom. I have, in several instances, shot them after such 
falls, and found the extent of injury received, was a few 
slight bruises near the root of the tail. Experienced dogs 
are aware of this stratagem of the Bear, and, so soon as he 
lets go his hold, they will run from under the tree, to avoid 
his fall. This plan also, the Bear adopts to clear himself of 
dogs, as he knows, that should he descend the tree gradu- 
ally, he must encounter a host of enemies, the moment he 
reaches the ground. In the present instance, the dogs knew 
the character of their antagonist, and ran so far from under 
the tree, that the Bear had recovered from his fall, and ran 
three hundred yards ere they could overtake him. The 
battle now began to rage most furiously, and we were alarm- 
ed for the fate of our dogs, and endeavoured to shoot 
him but found it impossible to do so, without endan- 
gering some of the dogs. He then laid on his back, and 
would frequently drag some of the dogs into him, in order 
to squeeze them to death, but being broad across the chest, 
failed to effect his purpose; this, the old dogs knew well, 
and the moment he would seize them, they would close 
in with his breast, and slip out backwards from him. 
Our presence excited the dogs to fight with the utmost 
