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MAMMALS OF AMERICA 



Louisiana Black Bear. — Ursus tulcolus (Griffith). 

 Size lar.yo ; molar teeth very large. Normally black 

 but cinnainoii phase is known. Louisiana to Texas. 



Florida Black Bear. — Ursus floridaiuis Merriam. 

 Very large ; wholly black. Everglades of Florida. 



Queen Charlotte Islands Black Bear. — Ursus car- 

 lottac Osgood. Large: skull longer; teeth larger 

 and heavier. Glossy black. Queen Charlotte Islands, 

 British Columbia. 



See also Glacier Bear and Kerniode's Bear. 



BLACK BEAR 



Although powerful animals, the Black Bears are notoriously timid, so far as man is concerned, and to 

 stalk one unaided is a task to try any hunter's patience 



This Bear has been described, by one who has 

 studied it in the open for nearly thirty years, as 

 " the most amusing, the most ludicrous, the most 

 human and understandable of our wild animals." 

 In its native state, it exists in larger numbers 

 and is more widely distribtited than any other 

 species of bear ; and in captivity, it is one of the 

 most " poptilar " of quadrupeds. It is the per- 

 forming Bear par excellence , the Bear that can 

 climb a tree ; and its cleverness in learning tricks, 

 its general tractability, and its playful disposition 

 have combined to make it an invariable as well 

 as an invaluable feature of most menageries. 



Paradoxical as it may seem to say so, not all 

 Black Bears are black. The ten or twelve mem- 

 bers of the group show remarkable varieties of 

 coloration, including glossy black, yellow-brown, 

 olive-vellow, and mouse color ; in the region of 

 Flat Head Lake, in Montana, a mimber of 

 albinos were seen. This variation in color has 

 often given rise to the mistaken idea that the 

 black and the brown individuals of the group are 

 different species. They are not. 



Black Bears mate just before going into 

 winter quarters. They are not particular about 

 their winter home. The hibernating den mav be 



