Characteristics and Habits 69 



animals. For all animals are like men in this, that in 

 minor matters their habits vary with the conditions 

 under which they live, and that in still less noticeable 

 ways the bearing of different individuals under similar 

 circumstances is determined by their personal char- 

 acters. 



What follows in the present chapter, then, is a 

 summing up of the general habits and race charac- 

 teristics of the Black Bear; and all statements that are 

 not qualified are, in my experience, observable of these 

 animals wherever found. 



Of course we all know that the Black Bear is an 

 hibernating animal. That is to say that in most, 

 if not in all, parts of its widely distributed range, it 

 passes a portion of the year asleep and without food or 

 drink, in a den or some sort of make-shift shelter. We 

 shall have much to say later on about this strange 

 habit, and about some of the queer notions people 

 have about it, but we only mention it here because, 

 since little bears are born during the time their mother 

 is in winter quarters, it is necessary to establish 

 winter quarters for them to be born in. 



Black Bear cubs, then, are born in the winter den of 

 the mother some time from the latter half of January 

 to the middle of March, according to the latitude and 

 also according to the altitude of the den. The further 

 north a bear happens to live, and the higher up in the 

 hills it happens to live, the later the spring sets in and 



