606 THE CARNIVORES 



forgotten that the animals were generally standing on from three to five feet of snow 

 when they thus scored the trees. 



The grizzly has been accredited with extreme ferocity toward man ; but, grant- 

 ing that its great strength and extreme tenacity of life make it a most formidable foe 

 when brought to close quarters, Dr. Rainsford is inclined to think that there has 

 been considerable exaggeration on this point, and many of the stories of these ani- 

 mals charging is due to their rolling downhill upon the hunter who 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 (Ursus 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 

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

 hind-foot. In length this bear seldom exceeds five 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 color, except on the muzzle, where it be- 

 comes tawny yellow. Occasionally, however, specimens are found with white mar- 

 gins 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-colored 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 the 

 mountains, the thickets of the vast plains, and every creek, river, and bay or bot- 

 tom. At the present day its habitat is, however, confined to some portions of the 

 various ranges of mountains south of the St. Lawrence river, the Great Lakes, and, 

 east of the Mississippi river, to parts of those portions of the Mississippi river and 

 its tributaries which are yet unsettled, and where it has been able to escape destruc- 

 tion from hunters. Some few are yet found in the dense thickets of the Colorado, 

 Trinity, and Brazor rivers." As with other bears, the male of this epecies is much 

 larger than the female ; when full grown the former, according to Colonel Alexander, 

 will stand about three feet in height, and will often turn the scale at from 600 to 700- 

 pounds. 



According to Dr. Merriam, the food of the American black bear "consists 

 not only of mice and other small Mammals, turtles, frogs and fish, but also, and 

 largely of ants and their eggs, bees and their honey, cherries, blackberries, rasp- 

 berries, blueberries, and various other fruits, vegetables, and roots. He sometimes 

 makes devastating raids upon the barnyard, slaying and devouring sheep, calves, 



