... not gone fifty feet before I walked onto a big Blackbear with her two roly-poly black cubs. The latter were having a boxing match, while the mother sat by to see fair play. As soon as they saw me they stopped their boxing, and as soon as I saw them I stopped walking. The old Bear gave a peculiar "Koff koff," I suppose of warning, for the young ones ran to a tree, and up that they shinned with alacrity that amazed ... — Wild Animals at Home • Ernest Thompson Seton