﻿4 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 59 



picnic tables of the Park afford a large amount of miscellaneous 

 scraps, to which is added an abundance of green food from farms 

 near by. This begins with dandelion tops in the spring, followed by 

 clover, green corn, watermelons, berries and other fruit. Acorns 

 are gathered for them in the fall and they then get, also, dried sweet 

 corn and " windfall " apples. Occasionally a venturesome hen or 

 pigeon is eaten, but the bears get no other meat except a little that 

 has been cooked. 



The time of going into hibernation seems to be determined mainly 

 by the weather, as the bears do not retire to the dens to stay before 

 severely cold weather comes. It happened that the month of Decem- 

 ber, 191 1, was unusually mild, and they did not finally hibernate until 

 the first days of January. However, the bears have uniformly been 

 very fat, and it is probable that, if they were lean, they would not 

 hibernate steadily, but would come out occasionally to seek food. 

 The cubs have hibernated about the same as the older bears. 



The surplus bears have been disposed of from time to time, most 

 of them going to animal dealers, when 8 or 10 months old, at $25 to 

 $30 each. The highest prices obtained were $75 for a grown bear 

 and $50 each, for two cubs. A few were sold for meat when two 

 years old, bringing from $25 to $30, with skin and head reserved. 

 For the last eight or ten years, however, there has been sufficient 

 demand for live cubs to take all the surplus, more than a dozen 

 having gone on the vaudeville stage ; and there is stated to be a 

 standing offer of $25 each for. future cubs. No skins have been 

 sold. 



The value of black bear fur at the present time is about $25 for 

 No. 1, large northern skins, and 20 to 40 per cent less for those from 

 middle and southern regions. For ladies' wear, prime silky skins of 

 cubs and yearlings are preferred, and these are worth up to $15. 

 It is a very durable fur. 



The Messrs. Lodge, of the Silver Lake Park Company, have been 

 very kind in furnishing information regarding their bears, and this 

 paper is made up almost entirely from data which they supplied. 



Both bears of the original pair, now 24 years old, are still in ex- 

 cellent health, although the male does not become as fat in the 

 autumn as he did when younger and the female has had no cubs 

 for the past three years. 



