Black Bear 



salt grass back of the beaches, and later gathers berries and 

 roots from the bogs thawed for a little while at the surface by 

 the long hours of sunlight. The polar bear's courage in defense 

 of her young is well known. Almost every Arctic explorer has 

 brought back vigorous accounts of her valour and self-sacrifice. 

 If only the humans could have shown up half as well as the 

 bears in these encounters, they would make much more cheer 

 ful reading. 



Black Bear 



Ursus americanus Pallas 

 Called also Cinnamon Bear. 



Length. 5 feet. 



Description. Colour entirely black, with a brownish tinge on the 

 face. Some individuals are uniform dark chestnut or cinna- 

 mon, with purplish reflections in certain lights, and are 

 called "Cinnamon Bears." For many years this colour phase 

 was thought to represent a distinct species. 



Range. Forest regions of North America, except the Gulf States, 

 and Labrador, where allied varieties occur. 



The black bear originally inhabited nearly all the woods of 

 North America. It is still fairly common in lonely regions where 

 there is much thick timber and rough land. 



The black bear differs from the typical bear of literature in 

 a great many ways; the bear of folk-lore and story-books, that 

 roars and attacks people on sight, is the brown bear of Europe, 

 a rough, shaggy beast, clumsy and awkward, like our grizzly 

 bear. The black bear is a smooth-coated, well-shaped fellow, 

 savage enough when attacked and compelled to fight for its life, 

 or to protect its cubs, but at other times timid and inoffensive. 

 When you walk through the woods the shy rabbit allows you 

 to approach to within a few steps before it takes fright and 

 goes bounding away, but the black bear is much more easily 

 frightened. Long before you have got within sight of him he is 

 running for his life with almost the speed of a fox, yet in his 

 encounters with dogs he has proved himself a dangerous antag- 

 onist, plucky and ready to fight. The fact is, his terror of man 

 is the only thing that could possibly save him. If he had as- 



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