Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 1 (1843).djvu/162

his fore paws. The man fired (while his wife held a light) and killed the intruder. It is difficult to hurt a bear with any weapon but fire-arms: he fights with his fore paws like a cat; and so watchful is he, and so expert at warding off every blow that is made at him, that it is next to impossible to strike his head, the only part in which he is vulnerable; for you might about as well batter a feather-bed as the body of a bear, so encased and shielded by an enormous layer of fat. In our climate, he becomes torpid during winter, generally choosing for his hybernaculum some large hollow log, or a cavity beneath the root of an overthrown tree. The species is numerous in all the wooded parts of this continent, even to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. In the southern states, he commits depredations on the farmer's fields of maize, when the corn is in that milky state called ' roasting ears,' so prized for boiling and eating as a table dish, like green peas, or roasting whole on the cob. The bear manifests a singular unity of taste with the farmer, and devours and treads down a large quantity, as he finds no difficulty in climbing over the zigzag rail fence. I have been told that he repeats his nightly visits to the same field; and, what is singular, always, on such occasions, mounts the fence, night after night, at the same spot where he got over the first time. The planters take advantage of this regular habit, by fastening to the fence a heavily loaded gun, at such an angle that it shall point at the bear's breast, as he rises on his hind legs. The identical crossing place is easily known by his great tracks in the soft earth. A stick is attached to the trigger, and this is made fast, at right angles, to a transverse stick, resting on two forks about breast high, a few inches outside the fence. The bear rears up to put his fore paws on the rails, and in getting over, presses with his breast against the transverse stick, which drives back the trigger, and poor Bruin instantly receives the reward of his dishonesty."—Gosse's 'Canadian Naturalist,' p. 286.

 

Note on the Moose in Canada. You are probably aware that owing to the depth of snow in our woods, the moose deer cannot move about much, and therefore congregate in small herds,, and tread down the snow: they feed on the branches of the trees, and extend the circle of their movements, as food becomes scarce: the snow accumulates all round, except in the part constantly trodden, so that at length they are confined in a sort of paddock, commonly called " a yard of moose deer." To the edges of this yard parties go to shoot—a sport almost as romantic as firing in a pig-sty. The Indians search out these spots and mark their situation, well knowing the moose cannot move out before the sunny days of March have caused a partial thaw, and the surface is again hardened by frosty nights. The Indians, having marked one of these paddocks, come to "les Anglais," and drive a bargain something in this way:—that it will take so many days to reach the moose-yard; that they are to be found in provisions and have 5s. a day, and also £2. 10s. for every moose the gentlemen kill, and the meat and skin of the animal. If no gentlemen accept the terms, they go alone, for the sake of the skin and the venison. In making a bargain with these fellows, it is cheapest not to pay by the