Blackbeai 



1053 



may be considered a medium-sized northern Blackbear; 300 

 pounds a very large one. 



In Florida, however, this animal attains much greater 

 size. Charles B. Cory, Director of Field Museum, tells me 



Fig. 242 — Paws of a large Blackbear; right hind and right fore. (5: 



that he killed a comparatively small Floridian female that 

 weighed 350 pounds, a male, 41 1 pounds, and a large male, 

 512 pounds. 



Audubon and Bachman give' the following dimensions of 

 a very large specimen: 



From nose to root of tail, 6 feet 5 inches (1,957 mm.); 

 height to top of shoulder, 3 feet i inch (940 mm.). 



The typical Blackbear of Eastern America is deep, glossy colour 

 black everywhere, excepting the muzzle, which is more or less 

 brown, and the white spot sometimes seen on the breast. As 

 one nears the Mississippi, various shades of cinnamon brown 

 are found, and in the Rocky Mountains fully a quarter of the 

 Bears are of the Cinnamon variety. This difference of colour, 



' Q. N. A., 1849, Vol. Ill, p. 188. 



