They are rather comical animals to
watch feeding and going about the ordinary business of their lives. Once
I spent half an hour lying at the edge of a wood and looking at a black
bear some three hundred yards off across an open glade. It was in good
stalking country, but the wind was unfavorable and I waited for it to
shift--waited too long as it proved, for something frightened the beast
and he 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.
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