made off before I could get a shot at him. When I first saw him
he was shuffling along and rooting in the ground, so that he looked like
a great pig. Then he began to turn over the stones and logs to hunt for
insects, small reptiles, and the like. A moderate-sized stone he would
turn over with a single clap of his paw, and then plunge his nose down
into the hollow to gobble up the small creatures beneath while still
dazed by the light. The big logs and rocks he would tug and worry at
with both paws; once, over-exerting his clumsy strength, he lost his
grip and rolled clean on his back. Under some of the logs he evidently
found mice and chipmunks; then, as soon as the log was overturned, he
would be seen jumping about with grotesque agility, and making quick
dabs here and there, as the little, scurrying rodent turned and twisted,
until at last he put his paw on it and scooped it up into his mouth.
Sometimes, probably when he smelt the mice underneath, he would
cautiously turn the log over with one paw, holding the other lifted and
ready to strike. Now and then he would halt and sniff the air in every
direction, and it was after one of these halts that he suddenly shuffled
off into the woods.

Black bears generally feed on berries, nuts, insects, carrion, and the
like; but at times they take to killing very large animals. In fact,
they are curiously irregular in their food. They will kill deer if they
can get at them; but generally the deer are too quick. Sheep and hogs
are their favorite prey, especially the latter, for bears seem to have
a special relish for pork. Twice I have known a black bear kill cattle.
Once the victim was a bull which had got mired, and which the bear
deliberately proceeded to eat alive, heedless of the bellows of the
unfortunate beast. On the other occasion, a cow was surprised and slain
among some bushes at the edge of a remote pasture. In the spring, soon
after the long winter sleep, they are very hungry, and are especially
apt to attack large beasts at this time; although during the very first
days of their appearance, when they are just breaking their fast, they
eat rather sparingly, and by preference the tender shoots of green grass
and other herbs, or frogs and crayfish; it is not for a week or two that
they seem to be overcome by lean, ravenous hunger. They will even attack
and master that formidable fighter the moose, springing at it from an
ambush as it passes--for a bull moose would sur