BEAR FAMILY 



99 



any place that offers a fair promise of privacy 

 and protection. A favorite device of the Black 

 Bear is " to dig a hole under the butt end of a 

 fallen tree, rake a few leaves into the opening, 

 and then crawl in himself." Mr. William H. 

 Wright, the well-known writer on bears, had a 

 tame Bear which made a winter home for him- 

 self under the carriage-house, foraging for rags 

 with which he covered the floor several inches 

 thick, and " once he came back dragging a fine 

 cashmere shawl that he had pulled off a clothes 

 line where a neighbor had hung it to air." 



The beginning of the hibernation period varies 

 with the weather and the locality. In the north- 

 west it is from November to January ; but the 

 Black Bear will often come out for a time, if a 

 warm spell occurs. It is a mistake to suppose 

 that hibernating Bears are in a kind of comatose 

 state, like the Woodchuck. They sleep, it is true ; 

 but they are easily aroused, and more than one 

 hunter who has fallen through a crust of snow 

 and landed on top of a hibernating Bear has 

 found the animal to be very much awake. In 

 captivity, hibernating Bears neither eat nor 

 drink. 



" All Black Bears hibernate during the winter 

 months," says Daniel J. Singer. " There are, 

 however, woodsmen in the South who disagree 

 with me on this point, saying that they have seen 

 their tracks during every month of the winter, 

 and the mild climate does not force them to lie 

 up in a cave or den as it would in the more 

 severe weather of northern latitudes. I have 

 myself seen bear tracks during the winter 

 months, and even in the deep snow of the north- 

 ern States. But this is the exception, and I have 

 no doubt that these Bears are simply shifting 

 to another sleeping place, having been driven out 

 for one reason or another. Their dens may not 

 have been well chosen, and they possibly became 

 leaky, or exposed to the winds, or some hunter 

 might pass that way with a keen-nosed, inquisi- 

 tive canine that would cause him to roll out in 

 a hurry. It is safe to say, all Black Bears den 

 up, both Korth and South, some time between 

 November ist and January ist, depending upon 

 the altitude, weather and latitude. They emerge 

 in the sj^ring, usually from the first of A])ril to 

 the middle of May, according to conditions, the 

 males often appearing some two weeks before 

 the females. It is at this time in the spring, just 

 after they have left their winter quarters, that 

 a Bear's pelt is in its prime. During hibernation, 

 as no food is laid up, they, of course, do not eat, 

 nor do they drink, unless they make use of the 



snow that has fallen about them. Contrary to 

 the general supposition, they are not in a deep 

 coma or hazy condition, for they are easily 

 aroused. It is true that they sleep, but are quick 

 to detect danger and fully equal to the occasion 

 of making off and looking up other quarters if 

 disturbed. 



" Another much mistaken idea about the Black 

 Bear is that he emerges from his winter quarters 

 very thin and emaciated (this so far, is true) ; 

 that he is desperately hungry after his long fast; 



I.. 



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t: 



Photograph by J. H. Murphy 



BLACK BEAR CUB 

 Taking an observation on a fallen tree 



or is terribly ferocious, and inclined to attack 

 anything on sight, man included. This is not 

 so, although I have often heard it so stated. Not 

 even a Black Bear with his enviable digestive 

 apparatus can or does indulge in a hearty meal 

 after so long a fast. The organs of a Bear are 

 no different from those of a man in this respect, 

 and after their long disuse are only capable of 

 assimilating the daintiest morsels of food — such 

 as grass shoots, tender roots and the like. In 

 fact, at first he shows little or no desire to eat." 

 Black Bear cubs, numbering one to four 

 — litters of the latter size are bv no means un- 



