102 
MAMMALIA. 
but the object of it is not known. Hunters claim that whenever a 
Bear passes one of these trees he stops, stands on his hincl-legs and 
gnaws and scratches it before resuming his journey. The only ac- 
count of the strange proceeding that I have seen is given by Audu- 
bon and Bachman, who state: 
“At one season, the Bear may be seen examining the lower part 
of the trunk of a tree for several minutes with much attention, at the 
same time looking around and snuffing the air. It then rises on its 
hind-legs, approaches the trunk, embraces it with the fore-legs, and 
scratches the bark with its teeth and claws for several minutes in 
continuance. Its jaws clash against each other until a mass of foam 
runs clown on both sides of the mouth. After this it continues its 
rambles.” * 
On the Island of Anticosti, Bears are still numerous, and feed so 
largely on fish that the inhabitants state that their flesh is, on this 
account, as unpalatable as that of the Sheldrake. During a recent visit 
to the west end of this island, I saw the spot, on the beach, where, 
three days previously, three full-grown Bears had been killed. It 
was at low water, and they were so busily engaged in capturing and 
devouring the little fish called Capelin ( Mullotus villosus ) that were 
detained in the shallow tide-pools on the flat lime-rock shore, that 
the fishermen approached unobserved and dispatched them without 
trouble. 
Bears are great cowards and never attack man except when 
wounded, or in defence of their young. When wounded they make 
desperate and dangerous foes, and more than one hardy hunter has 
lost his life in encounters with them. In fighting, the large and 
powerful claws inflict even worse wounds than those made by their 
formidable teeth, and the bodies of their victims are often frightfully 
lacerated. If able to “close in” with the luckless hunter they stand 
upright and hug him tight with their fore-paws, while the hind-claws 
* Quadrupeds of North America, Vol. Ill, 1854, p. 189. 
