ighbors. Several young men immediately started
after the bear, and, as its track was perfectly visible upon the snow,
they soon came up with it, and killed it. Then it was that, by certain
marks upon its skin, some of the pursuers recognized, in the poor bear,
no enemy, but an old friend of their own recent school days. Great
regret was felt at the loss of the creature. It was like killing a
human friend rather than a wild animal.

Landor furnishes us with the following account: A man in Sweden set off
one morning to shoot the cock of the woods. This bird is so extremely
shy, that he may rarely be met with, except in the pairing season,
when, every morning, he renews his song. He usually commences just
before sunrise, beginning in a loud strain, which gradually sinks into
a low key, until he is quite entranced with his own melody; he then
droops his wings to the earth, and runs to the distance of several
feet, calling, _Cluck, cluck, cluck_! during which time, he is said to
be incapable of seeing, so wrapped up is he in his own contemplations,
and may be caught even with the hand by those who are near enough, as
the fit lasts only a few moments. If unready, wait for the next
occasion; for, should he advance a step, except when the bird is thus
insensible, he will certainly be overheard, and the victim escape.

The man I began to speak of, being, early one morning, in pursuit of
this bird, heard his song at a short distance, and, as soon as the
_clucking_ commenced, of course advanced as rapidly as he could, and
then remained motionless, till these particular notes were again
sounded. It was quite dusk, the sun not having yet risen; but the song
seemed to come from an open space in the forest, from which the sun was
just emerging. He could not see many yards before him, and only
followed the direction of the sound. It so happened that, from another
point, but at no great distance, a bear was advancing on the bird, just
in the manner of, and with the same steps as the man.

The hunter, whilst standing motionless, thought he perceived a dark
object on one side of him; but it did not much engage his attention; at
the usual note, he moved on toward the game, but was surprised to see
that the black object had also advanced in an equal degree, and now
stood on a line with him. Still he was so eager after the bird, that he
could think of nothing else, and approached close to his prey before he
perceived that a large bear stoo