106 REPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 
Though persistently hunted and valued for his fur, as well 
as an article of food, the coon seems to hold his own. He goes 
about at night and during the day retires to his den dug out 
among the roots of some old tree or under a rock. During severe 
weather they retire to their burrows and sleep until the tempera- 
ture moderates. 
Procyon lotor Abbott, Cook.’s Geol. of N. J., 1868, p. 754.— 
Abbott, A Naturalist.’s Rambles, 1885, p. 448.—Beesley, Geol. 
Cape May Co., 1857, p. 137.—Rhoads, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. 
Phila., 1897, p. 31.—Rhoads, Mam. Pa. and N. J., 1903, p. 182. 
Family URSIDA. 
BEARS. 
Only one species of this well known family occurs in the State. 
Genus Ursus Linnzus. 
Typical Bears. 
Ursus americanus Pallas. 
Black Bear. 
PLATE 55. 
Length, 5 feet. Color black, with a brownish tinge on the 
face. The general build of the bear, its short tail and planti- 
grade walk are well known. 
Black Bears, except under extraordinary circumstances, are in 
great fear of man and make every effort at escape or conceal- 
ment when danger in this form menaces them. ‘Their food 
consists almost entirely of nuts, berries and such insects, mice, 
etc., as they can dig out from stumps or catch from under over- 
turned logs; occasionally, however, they will kill sheep or pigs 
if forced by hunger to trespass upon clearings or farm land. 
Wild bees’ nests are their delight, for honey they prefer to any 
other food. Young bears are curious little naked creatures, ex- 
ceedingly small for the size of the parent. They are born in the 
