and it was interesting to watch her dig through the snow in search of food.  Soon she headed down the mountain side, paying absolutely no attention to the big male, which slowly followed some distance in the rear.  Shortly she reached a rocky cliff which it seemed impossible that such a clumsy animal could descend, and I almost despaired of her making the attempt, but without a pause she wound in and out, seemingly traversing the steepest and most difficult places in the easiest manner, and headed for the valley below.  When the bull reached this cliff we lost sight of him; nor could we locate him again with even the most careful use of the glasses.  He had evidently chosen this secure retreat to lie up in for the rest of the day.  If I could have killed the female without alarming him, and then waited on her trail, I should undoubtedly have got another shot, as he followed her after his rest.

It was 8 o’clock when we first located the bears, and for nearly three hours I had a chance to watch one or both of them through powerful glasses.  The sun had come up clear and strong, melting the crust upon the snow, so that as soon as the female bear reached the steep mountain side her downward path was not an easy one.  At each step she would sink up to her belly, and at times would slip and fall, turning somersault after somersault; now and again she would be buried in the snow so deep that it seemed impossible for her to go either ahead or backward.  Then she would roll over on her back, and, loosening her hold on the steep hillside, would come tumbling and slipping down, turning over and over, sideways and endways, until she caught herself by spreading out all four legs.  In this way she came with each step and turn nearer and nearer.  Finally she reached an open patch on the hillside, where she began to feed, digging up the roots of the salmon-berry bushes at the edge of the snow.  If now I lost sight of her for a short time, it was very difficult to pick her up again even with the glasses, so perfectly did the light tawny yellows and browns of her coat blend in with the dead grass of the place on which she was feeding.

The wind had been blowing in our favor all the morning, and for once continued true and steady.  But how closely we watched the clouds, to see that no change in its direction threatened us.

We waited until the bear had left the snow and was quietly feeding before we made a move, and then we slowly worked ahead and downward, taking up a new position on a small ridge which was well to leeward, but still on the opposite side of the valley from the bear.  She seemed in an excellent position for a stalk, and had I been alone I should have tried it.  But the Aleut mode of hunting is to study the direction in which your game is working, and then take up a position which it will naturally approach.