i8 



CARNIVORES. 



has incautiously fired at them from below instead of from above. The same writer 

 also considers that at the present day Winchester repeaters and other rifles have 

 established in the grizzly a wholesome dread of man, and that it is now altogether 

 a more cautious and timid animal than formerly. 



The American Black Bear (Urs us americanus). 



The American black bear is a well-marked species, differing from the brown 

 bear much more decidedly than does the grizzly. It is a smaller animal than the 

 brown bear, from which it differs by the proportionately smaller head, the sharper 



AJUEKILA^' BLACK BEAR (^ liat. sizej. 



muzzle, and more regularly convex profile of the face, as well as by the much 

 shorter hind-foot. In length this bear seldom exceeds 5 feet. The fur is less 

 shaggy, and altogether smoother and more glossy than that of either the brown or 

 grizzly bear ; being typically of a uniformly black colour, except on the muzzle, 

 where it becomes tawny yellow. Occasionally, however, specimens are found with 

 white margins to the lips and white streaks on the chest. The smaller size of the 

 hind-feet of this species renders its trail distinguishable at a glance from that of 

 the grizzly bear. As already mentioned, the so-called cinnamon bear may be a 

 pale-coloured variety, either of the black bear or of the grizzly. 



The black bear formerly had a wider distribution than the grizzly, extending 

 from Labrador and Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, and from the east to the west 

 coasts of the continent. Colonel D. G. Alexander states that it frequented " all 



