POPULAR MISCELLANY 



859 



the lake has no apparent inlet or outlet. It 

 contains fish, and numerous water-fowl were 

 swimming on its surface, the flapping of 

 whose wings, when they took to flight, pro- 

 duced a sound, through confused reverbera- 

 tion in the deep, well-like basin, like the 

 rushing of a distant railway -train. The 

 steep banks, about one thousand feet in 

 height, are well wooded, and vegetation 

 clothes their surface down to the water's 

 edge. There is no mark cf higher water, 

 and it probably keeps the same level all the 

 year round. The cries of birds had a pecul- 

 iar sound, and Mr. Wray believed that it is 

 these noises that have given rise to the 

 native myth that a Masai village formerly 

 stood here, which was swallowed up by the 

 lake. The people of Taveta believe that 

 they hear voices, the lowing of cattle, etc. 



Black Bears. — Mr. William Pittman Lent 

 gives an interesting account of the " Black 

 Bear" in the " Transactions " of the Ottawa 

 (Canada) Field Naturalists' Club. The young 

 of bears are produced in March, and no fe- 

 male has been killed by Canadian hunters, 

 before or after the hibernating season, that 

 showed any evidence of being in the gravid 

 state. The cubs are very small — not larger, 

 when two days old, than kittens of the same 

 age. The animals feed principally on vege- 

 table food — grapes, roots, berries, beech- 

 nuts, oats, and Indian corn. They some- 

 times visit the oat or corn fields before 

 sunset, and may be taken there by a skill- 

 ful hunter. They are inordinately fond of 

 honey, and they feast luxuriously in the 

 fall on the berries of the mountain-ash. 

 When their natural food is scarce they visit 

 the farm-yard and carry oflP pigs and sheep, 

 and will even kill young cattle when pressed 

 for hunger. They are also fond of fish ; 

 they have been known to wade and swim in 

 the rivers for the purpose of catching them, 

 and are frequently to be seen along the 

 coast of the island of Anticosti, devouring 

 herring - spawn. They are active, though 

 clumsy, and will run for a mile or two with 

 astonishing speed. When closely pursued 

 by dogs, a bear will take to a tree, up which 

 he can climb rapidly, but from which he 

 descends more slowly, head upward, as 

 soon as it appears safe to do so. They are 

 very shy and timorous in the presence of 



man, and will make off rapidly when they 

 perceive a human being by sight or scent, 

 but they are most affected by the scent. 

 The black bear fights with teeth and claws, 

 and by hugging. Wh^n in an erect posi- 

 tion he is a perfect master of the art of 

 self-defense, and it would puzzle a pugilist 

 to get in a blow at him. His most vulner- 

 able part is the nose, which is provided 

 with many sensitive nerves intimately and 

 directly connected with the brain. When a 

 bear is standing on all-fours, there would be 

 no difficulty in striking him with a club; 

 but, when he is sitting erect, it would be an 

 entirely different matter. In Canada black 

 bears retreat to their dens — generally under 

 the roots of large trees, or occasionally in 

 rocky caves — at about the setting in of the 

 season of confirmed frost and snow. They 

 remain there in a quiescent state, although 

 not — as has been well established by hunt- 

 ers who have killed them in their dens in 

 the depth of winter — in a trance-like condi- 

 tion of torpidity, till the opening of spring. 

 When they first emerge from their four 

 months' slumber they are heavy and fat, 

 and their fur is in prime condition, but 

 shortly afterward they fall off in flesh, and 

 soon become ragged in coat and lanky in ap- 

 pearance. Toward October, if they have 

 had a favorable summer, they are found in 

 good condition, and at any time after the 

 middle of November their skins have the 

 finest color, and the thickest and heaviest 

 coat of fur. Bears are still found within 

 eight or ten miles of the city of Ottawa. 

 Even the black bear, Mr. Lent thinks, is of 

 sufficient importance in the economy of 

 Nature and of man to entitle him to legal 

 protection. 



Useful Reptiles. — When we have secured 

 protection to the birds, it will be time to 

 teach the people to have more mercy on the 

 reptiles. The popular, almost unconquer- 

 able prejudices against this class of animals 

 are regarded by science as mistaken exCept 

 as to a very few kinds, but the public still 

 need enlightenment on the subject. Pro- 

 fessor 0. P. Hay has embodied a popular 

 lesson on the innocence and even value of 

 most reptiles in his paper on "The Am- 

 phibians and Reptiles of Indiana," which, 

 being comprised in the State Agricultural 



