74 The Black Bear 



the Black Bear is silent except in cases of danger or 

 emergency. Then she, too, ' ' speaks '^ to her youngsters, 

 and they never seem to be at a loss for her meaning. 

 At any rate they go up a tree at the word of command, 

 and come down again at the grunt that means, ''All 

 right now, come on.'' 



As the cubs grow larger and stronger the mother 

 wanders farther afield with them, and, from sacrificing 

 all her time and desires to their needs and safety, comes 

 gradually first to tolerate, and toward the end of the 

 season rather to resent, their persistent demands upon 

 her. One imagines that it is with a final indifference 

 and relief that she sends them off to shift for them- 

 selves. For, like other animals, a bear, while show- 

 ing the most devoted and courageous love for her chil- 

 dren while they are helpless, has a very short-lived 

 affection for them once they cease to need her protec- 

 tion. In one instance the Lodges tried the experi- 

 ment of returning some half-grown cubs to their 

 mother after a comparatively short separation, during 

 which she and her mate had been together in the main 

 pit. The two cubs had only been by themselves for a 

 few weeks, and before they were finally returned to 

 the pen with their mother they were kept for some 

 days separated from her by nothing more than an iron 

 grating. Yet as soon as they were put into the pit 

 with her she seized one of them and killed it, and was 

 starting up her exercise tree after the other which had 



