e common enough in the forests of
Louisiana; but these are regarded as "vermin," and are not permitted to
lead the dogs astray.

With regard to the other animals mentioned, they all rank as noble
game--especially the cougar, called "panther" by the backwoodsman--and
the pack may follow whichever is first "scared up."

The grand game, however, is the bear; and the capture of Bruin is not a
feat of everyday occurrence. To find his haunts it is necessary to make
an excursion into the more unfrequented and inaccessible solitudes of
the forest--in places often many miles from a settlement. Not
unfrequently, however, the old gentleman wanders abroad from his unknown
retreat, and seeks the plantations--where in the night-time he skulks
round the edges of the fields, and commits serious depredations on the
young maize plants, or the succulent stalks of the sugar-cane, of which
he is immoderately fond. Like his brown congener of Europe he has a
sweet tooth, and is greatly given to honey. To get at it he climbs the
bee-trees, and robs the hive of its stores. In all these respects he is
like the brown bear; but otherwise he differs greatly from the latter
species, so much indeed, that it is matter of surprise how any
naturalist should have been led to regard them as the same.

Not only in colour, but in shape and other respects, are they totally
unlike. While the fur of the brown bear is tossed and tufty--having
that appearance usually termed _shaggy_--that of the American black bear
is of uniform length, and all lying, or rather standing, in one
direction, presenting a smooth surface corresponding to the contour of
his body. In this respect he is far more akin to the bears of the
Asiatic islands, than to the _ursus arctos_. In shape, too, he differs
essentially from the latter. His body is more slender, his muzzle
longer and sharper, and his profile is a curve with its convexity
upward. This last characteristic, which is constant, proclaims him
indubitably a distinct species from the brown bear of Europe; and he is
altogether a smaller and more mild-tempered animal.

As the grand "chasse" had been arranged to come off on the third day
after their arrival, our young hunters determined to employ the interval
in ranging the neighbouring woods; not with any expectation of finding a
bear--as their host did not believe there was any so near--but rather
for the purpose of becoming acquainted with the character of the North