Art. XL — Narrative of a Bear Hunt in the Adiron- 

 dacks. By Verplanck Colvin. 



[Read before the Albany Institute, Jan. 18, 1870.] 



Gentlemen of the Institute: I have been requested by our 

 secretary to give a statement of a recent hunt in the Adi- 

 rondack wilderness of northern New York, during which 

 I was so fortunate as to kill a large and very splendid 

 specimen of the American black bear, after two days chase 

 upon snow-shoes. 



The comparative scarcity of the animal, the dangers and 

 fatigues incurred in its pursuit, would render it seldom an 

 object of the chase but for its value to the hunter and 

 trapper, and as a trophy. 



On Friday the 31st of December 1869, while deer hunt- 

 ing on snow-shoes with David Sturgis of Lake Pleasant, 

 Hamilton county, in the direction of Jessups or Indian 

 River, we struck the trail of a large bear. It was of the 

 black species and, according to naturalists and hunters, 

 should at this season have been hybernating. The bear 

 had passed during the previous night, and we immediately 

 determined to pursue him, being willing to undergo the 

 fatigue on the mere possibility of success. Besides, we 

 had each our theory in relation to the habits of the bear, 

 which the successful result of this chase would settle. 

 In the Adirondack wilderness, hunters generally hold to 

 the opinion that bears, when adult and prime, cannot be 

 run down by man ; and that just previous to the first deep 

 snow of winter they suddenly disappear and are not seen 

 again till spring. Those killed in" that region are ge- 



