CHARACTERISTICS AND HABITS 



In this chapter I purpose to bring together in some 

 sort of order the characteristic habits of the Black Bear 

 as I have personally observed them during many years 

 of life in the open. Of course it is never possible to 

 watch a single wild animal from the time it is born until 

 it grows up, lives its natural life out, and dies; nor 

 even to follow one through the activities of an ordinary 

 year of its life. And even if one could do this, one 

 would have to be very careful not to generalize too 

 broadly from the actions of a single individual. But 

 by the time one has seen thousands of Black Bear, let 

 us say, in many parts of their range, in all stages of 

 growth, at all seasons of the year, in undisturbed en- 

 joyment of their liberty, and free to follow their own 

 instincts of work and play, one is able, by putting 

 two and two together, to piece out a pretty accurate 

 knowledge of the species. 



One gets, also, a good working understanding of what 

 traits are characteristic of all the normal specimens of 

 the race, of what habits are dependent upon local con- 

 ditions and vary as these alter, and of what actions are 

 attributable to the personal dispositions of individual 



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