334 THE NATURALIST OF THE ST. CROIX 



young bears. Here in Maine and New Brunswick, with 

 our very cold weather, deep snows rarely fall before the 

 last of November and bears usually take to their dens 

 about that time for hibernation. The male bear is easily 

 satisfied with any kind of a hole, behind the root of an 

 upturned tree, a hollow cliff, or in the end of an old 

 hollow log. But not so with the female if she is par- 

 turient. She selects a very obscure place and makes, 

 as the Indians say, " a soft feather bed of fir branches." 

 Our bear hunters and Indians all attest to the truth of 

 the deep privacy of the female in denning and it is not 

 often that her den is found. It is a maxim with our bear 

 hunters and woodsmen that no one has ever taken a 

 she-bear with young, and it is said to be a fact that if 

 disturbed she will always abort. Richardson, quoting 

 from Pennant, and Godman, both attest to the deep 

 privacy of the female and to the saying of the Indians 

 that the female bears went like the wild geese south in 

 winter. It is said that the female bear is always very 

 fat in the fall, while the male is wasted by the September 

 rut. It is said there is seen at times over a bear's den 

 a kind of sweat or vapor that will conduct a dog or man 

 to them. They are never entirely unconscious. If you 

 poke them with a gun or stick they will growl, but 

 relapse again into repose. 



The number of young is usually two, but often only 

 one, very rarely three or four. The young cubs are 

 queer, helpless little things when first born, which is 

 about New Year's day. They are not much larger than a 

 full grown red squirrel, weigh from eight to ten ounces 

 and measure from tip of nose to end of hind toe about 

 ten inches. They are covered by a fine, close black hair 



