ttle as they wander through
the woods to their spring pastures; and when once he has taken to this
dangerous proceeding, he is said to continue it. On catching sight of a
herd, should it not be accompanied by a human being, he drives the
animals into some boggy swamp, and there singling out a victim, he jumps
on its back, and deals it a few tremendous blows across the head and
shoulders, till the poor animal becomes an easy prey. He then drags it
off into the neighbouring wood, and devours it at his leisure. This
habit is often the cause of his destruction. On any remainder of the
animal being found, the aggrieved settler sets off, rifle in hand and
axe in his belt, to punish the aggressor. The bear, he well knows, will
revisit the carcass. So cunning, however, is Bruin, and conscious of
guilt, that he is constantly on the watch, as he returns, for an enemy.
He creeps up, accordingly, looking on either side, his caution
increasing as he approaches his prey. The hunter, therefore, to outwit
him, seeks his trail in the direction in which he has retreated, and
conceals himself near it, but at some distance from the carcass. He
waits till the sun is setting, when he is almost sure to see the bear
come tripping nimbly along, not yet thinking it necessary to employ
caution. At this moment a rifle-bullet, placed in his head, deprives
him of his intended feast and his life at the same time.

The black bear possesses wonderful strength--said to be fully equal to
that of ten men. Experiments have been tried, in which so many persons
have attempted to drag off a cask baited with molasses, or other sweet
stuff, secured to a rope, when the bear has carried it away with perfect
ease, in spite of their united efforts to draw it from him.

The most dangerous time to attack a she-bear is in the spring; when she
is accompanied by her cubs. If she has time, she will lead them off to
a place of safety; but if not, she will chase the intruder from her
domains--and woe betide him if he cannot manage to escape her claws!
Bears are easily taken in traps, baited with small bundles of sticks
smeared with molasses. They are hunted in the "fall," when they have
become fat with the ample supply of blue and whortle berries or
beech-mast on which they have been feeding. To obtain the beech-mast,
Bruin will frequently climb a tree, and sometimes, like the orang-outang
of Eastern seas, will build a rough platform for himself among the uppe