1/6 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [vOL. 45 



1895, January 23. One male and one female. 



1896, January 24. Two males and one female. 



1897, One male (exact date of birth not noted, but between 



January 21 and 27). 



1898, January 24. One male and one female. 



1899, January 2"]. Three males. 



1900, No cubs born, as young of previous year had run with the 



mother during the summer. 



1 901, January 26. Two males and one female. 



1902, No cubs born. 



1903, January 21. Two males and one female. 



After the first litter, all of the cubs were raised, except five which 

 met accidental death at ages varying from one to eight months. 



The bears are kept in a circular brick pit 20 feet in diameter and 

 12 feet deep, built on the eastern slope of a hill where the ground 

 is dry and there is good drainage. On the upper side, the top of 

 the brick v/all rises about three feet above the surface of the ground. 

 The floor of the pit is of terra-cotta blocks set in cement and slopes 

 toward the entrance gate, where drainage is provided by a gutter 

 of the same materials. The brick-lined entrance passage, about 

 10 feet long and 6 feet high, is provided with inner and outer gates 

 of iron grating and thus afifords a chamber to separate the bears 

 from the main pit when desirable. There is a water tank about 

 3 by 6 feet at one side of the pit. Two retiring dens are excavated 

 in the bank, each about 5 by 6 feet and 4 feet high. These are 

 8 or 10 feet beneath the surface of the ground, are lined with brick 

 and connected with the pit by a 24-inch circular opening. The 

 entrance passage is provided with a similar but somewhat larger 

 retiring den with a ventilating shaft in the top, while the only open- 

 ing in the others is that leading to the pit. There is a supply of 

 water, under pressure, within convenient reach, and the pit is fre- 

 quently and thoroughly washed with a hose. When the retiring 

 dens require to be cleaned, the bears are confined in the gateway 

 passage. 



The male bear is put with the female about the first of June and 

 they mate in the latter part of June or the first week in July. They 

 remain together in the pit until the time of hibernation. The cubs 

 are born between the 21st and the 27th of January. Their presence 

 in the den is at once made evident by their whimpering, which can 

 easily be heard at the ventilator, but they are not seen till early 

 in March. They are surprisingly small as compared with the size 

 of the adult, for they weigh, at birth, only nine to twelve ounces. 



