Page:Babyhood of Wild Beasts.djvu/96

76 Little Bears are born in the base of hollow trees, in deep ravines, and under big rocks. They live on the ground and after they are weaned eat everything from an antelope steak to a grasshopper. They are exceedingly fond of honey, berries, frogs, fish, snakes, insect larvae, and green vegetables.

The chief article of diet of Alaskan Bears is salmon. While camping in Alaska one summer, I chanced to surprise an old female with her two cubs sitting on the river bank fishing. She hooked the salmon deftly with her long, sharp claws as they swam up the river to spawn. She piled up her freshly caught salmon in the same manner a country boy piles up cordwood. She made a neat job of it while the cubs wrestled in the sunshine nearby.

Bear cubs are about the most merry hearted youngsters I know of. I think they are even more playful than monkeys and far more charming to look at.

An Alaskan Indian guide presented me with two little black bear cubs he had captured while hunting. They were about three months old and