owners would approach it thereafter. Day after day the cats lost their milk, until the stratagem was discovered, and the milk was placed in a spot where it could not be reached by the fox.

17. The same animal was cunning enough to procure a supply of milk even after he had been prevented from robbing the cats. On one occasion, as the dairy-maid was passing along with her pails, the fox went up to her, and brushed himself against one of the milk-pails. In consequence of this contact the milk became so tainted with the smell of the creature that the dairy-maid did not venture to bring it to the house, and rather thoughtlessly poured it out into a vessel and gave it to the fox. The crafty animal took advantage of the circumstance, and watched for the coming of the maid with her pails, in order to repeat the process. Several times Reynard succeeded in his ruse, but when he found that, instead of being appropriated to his own use, the spoiled milk was given to the pigs, he ceased his nefarious attempts.

WOOD AND FIGUIER.

1. DURING the autumn the bear becomes extremely fat in consequence of the ample feasts which it is able to enjoy, and makes its preparations for passing the cold and inhospitable months of winter. About the end of October the bear has completed its winter house, and ceases feeding for

the year.

2. The saccharine-loving instinct of the bear, which leads it to discover a bees'-nest, however carefully it may be concealed, and to undergo much toil and trouble for the sake of the sweet banquet, seems to be given to the animal for the purpose of enabling it to lay up within its own body a supply of fat which will serve the double purpose of sustaining the creature in proper condition during its long fast, and of loading the body with carbon for the purpose of producing the state of lethargy in which the animal passes the winter.

3. It is well known that sugar has the property of producing fat to a very great extent; and as it possesses more of the saccharine element than any other natural substance, the bear is led by its instinct to search for and to devour this valuable food with untiring assiduity.

4. Again, the excess of carbon, whether it be diffused in the atmosphere or concentrated in the body, is always productive of sleep, or rather of lethargy; as is seen by the

constant drowsiness of human beings when overloaded with this condensed carbon, or when they are placed in a room which is charged with the carbonic acid gas that has been exhaled from the lungs of its occupants.

5. There now takes place in the animal's digestive organs a curious phenomenon, which gives it the capability of remaining through the entire winter in a state of lethargy, without food, and yet without losing condition. As the stomach is no longer supplied with nourishment, it soon becomes quite empty, and is contracted into a very small space. No food can now pass through the system, by reason of this contraction, and because of an obstruction called the "tappen," which is almost entirely composed of pine-leaves and the various substances which the bear scratches out of the ants' nests.

6. From the end of October to the middle of April the bear remains in a dull, lethargic state of existence; and it is a curious fact that if a hibernating bear be discovered and killed in its den, it is quite as fat as if it had been slain before it retired to its resting-place. Experienced hunters say that even at the end of its five months' sleep the bear is as fat as at the beginning.

7. During the winter the bear gains a new skin on the balls of its feet; and it is thought that the curious habit of licking the paws, to which bears are so prone, is in order to facilitate the growth of the new integument. The den in which the bear passes a long period of its life is generally found under the sheltering defence of rocks or treeroots, but is sometimes composed of moss, which the bear gathers into a hillock, and into which it creeps. These moss-houses are not so easily discovered as might be supposed, for the habitation has a very close resemblance to

an ordinary hillock, and when the ground is covered with a uniform carpet of snow, might be passed without detection.

8. Bears are nearly as careful of their comfort as cats, and use the greatest precaution in preparing a soft and warm bed, in which they lie at ease during their long sleep. The flooring of their winter-house is thickly covered with dried leaves, and all kinds of similar substances, the smaller branches of the pine-tree being in great request for this purpose.

WOOD.

1. A TRAPPER named Glass, and a companion, were setting their beaver-traps in a stream to the north of the River Platte, when they saw a large grizzly bear turning up the turf near by and searching for roots and pig-nuts. The two men creeping to the thicket fired at him; but though they wounded, they did not kill him. The beast groaned, jumped on all four legs from the ground, and, snorting with pain and fury, charged towards the place whence came the smoke of the rifles.

2. The men rushed through the thicket, where the underwood almost impeded their progress; but the beast's weight and strength carried him along so fast, that he soon came up with them. A steep bluff was situated a hundred yards off, with a level plain of grass between it and the thicket. The hunters flew across the latter with the utmost speed, the bear after them. When he reached about

half way, Glass stumbled over a stone and fell. He rose, and the bear stood before him on his hind legs.

3. Glass called to his companion to fire, and he himself sent the contents of his pistol into the bear's body. The furious animal, with the blood streaming from his nose and mouth, knocked the pistol away with one paw, while be stuck the claws of the other into the flesh of his antagonist, and rolled with him on the ground. Glass managed to reach his knife, and plunged it several times into the bear, while the latter with tooth and claw tore his flesh. At last, blinded with blood and exhaustion, the knife fell from the trapper's hand, and he became insensible.

4. His companion, who thought his turn would come next, did not even think of reloading his rifle, and fled to the camp, where others of his party were resting, to tell the miserable fate of their companion. Assistance was sent, and Glass still breathed, but the bear lay across him quite dead, from three bullets and twenty knife-wounds. The man's flesh was torn away in slips, and lumps of it lay upon the ground; his scalp hung bleeding over his face, which was also torn. The men took away the trapper's hunting-shirt, moccasins, and arms, dragged the bear off his body, and left him, declaring, when they rejoined their party, that they had completed his burial.

5. However, they had not buried him, most probably supposing that the wolves would save them that trouble. A few months afterwards, as some of the party were taking furs to a trading-fort for sale, they were met by a horseman of a singular appearance, whose face was so scarred and disfigured that his features could not be distinguished. The strange horseman accosted one of the party in the following words: "Hurrah! Bill, my boy, you thought I