8o The Black Bear 



holes or openings as would expose the interior to the 

 weather. The Black Bear is far less particular. Any 

 old place that offers him some fair promise of protec- 

 tion and privacy seems good enough for him. He dens 

 up at much lower altitudes, goes into winter quarters 

 later and comes out much earlier. One of his favorite 

 devices 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. Sometimes, when the tree is a good-sized 

 one and the roots hold the butt of it a little clear of the 

 ground, he is saved the trouble of digging at all and 

 makes a sort of nest in the space beneath the trunk. 

 At other times he will dig a hole in the soft ground, 

 and, of course, occasionally uses caves or other natural 

 retreats if he happens to find them handy. Ben, it 

 will be recalled, dug under the floor of my barn when 

 it came to be his bedtime. 



The time for denning up varies with the locality 

 and the weather, and throughout the North-west is 

 anywhere from November 1 to January 1. Unlike 

 the grizzly, however, the Black Bear will often come 

 out for a while if a warm spell follows his denning up. 

 The Lodges note that their bears, once they are settled 

 in their winter caves, never seem to pay any further 

 attention to the weather. But while this is probably 

 the rule, I have seen Black Bears out in some numbers 

 late in December after there had been severe freezing 

 weather during which all bears had denned up. 



