178 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [vOL. 45 



fact is recognized at Silver Lake Park and has been only too often 

 proved in zoological collections elsewhere. 



A number of the bears reared at Silver Lake have been sent to 

 other parks, while some have been sold for meat. Several females 

 were kept till they reached breeding age, at four years, and a second 

 pit was built for them similar to the original one. They have pro- 

 duced a number of cubs. 



The success of the Messrs. Lodge with their bears should not 

 be attributed to any one feature of their management. The large 

 amount and the character of the uncooked vegetable food used, 

 probably have much to do with it, but the opportunity for isolated 

 hibernation in snug, dry dens, and the manner of treating the mother 

 and young, must have contributed largely to the result. The fact 

 that there has not been a case of sickness among their bears, nor a 

 death except through accident, is sufficient measure of their success. 



It must not be inferred that bears have not bred in captivity else- 

 where in the United States, for instances are well known, including 

 the following : A grizzly bear in one zoological garden produced, 

 in twelve litters, twenty-two cubs, but only one was reared. In 

 another, twelve cubs out of thirteen died on the day of birth and 

 one lived eleven days. Mr. W. T. Hornaday, Director of the New 

 York Zoological Park, writes as follows regarding a birth in Pros- 

 pect Park, Brooklyn : " In a den of about 20 by 30 feet, in which 

 were five black bears, the oldest female gave birth to two cubs, and 

 reared them. Her den was shallow, and its interior was badly ex- 

 posed, but the mother persistently fought off all would-be intruders, 

 and took good care of her young." 



In Forest Park, at Springfield, Massachusetts, several cubs were 

 born, one of which was reared. A black bear from the Yellowstone 

 National Park, which was received at the National Zoological Park 

 at Washington, on October 15, 1893, gave birth to two cubs on the 

 4th of the following February ; one was accidentally killed by the 

 mother the following day, while the other she reared to maturity. 

 The weight at birth was nine ounces and the length eight and a 

 half inches. The eyes were first opened on the thirty-ninth day. 



Hibernation in captivity appears to be more unusual than breeding, 

 though several instances of this have been noted, and one, given by 

 Mr. W. T. Hornaday, is especially interesting. The bear in ques- 

 tion was at Mandan, North Dakota. He was kept on a long chain 

 in a vacant lot, and on the advent of severe weather dug a hole 

 about five feet deep in the open prairie, going down at an angle 



