286 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 



at length, after much strugghng, managed to kill the beast 

 with a stout club, which he providentially met with. 



C. — The flesh of the bear is eaten, I believe ? 



F. — Yes : the hams, in particular, are much esteemed ; 

 a large bear will weigh five hundred pounds, and some have 

 been found of even greater weight. Their skins are thick 

 and warm ; and, dressed with the hair on, are much in re- 

 quest for lining sleighs, as buffalo robes. 



C. — Does our bear feed on flesh ? 



F. — Not wholly ; indeed it appears to be less carni- 

 vorous than the Ursus Arctos of northern Europe, and less 

 ferocious. His chief food seems to be of a vegetable nature, 

 grain, fruits, and roots. He has an appetite for pork, how- 

 ever, and occasionally makes a visit to the farmer's hog-sty 

 for the purpose of cultivating an acquaintance with the 

 grunting inhabitants. Some years ago, one of our nearest 

 neighbours was aroused in the night by a commotion in his 

 hog-pen ; suspecting the cause, he jumped up immediately, 

 took his gun, and saw a bear in the act of getting over the 

 fence with a fine hog, embraced very lovingly in his fore- 

 paws. The man fired (while his wife held a light), and 

 killed the intruder. It is difficult to hurt a bear with any 

 weapon but fire-arms ; he fights with his fore-paws like a 

 cat ; and so watchful is he, and so expert at warding off 

 every blow that is made at him, that it is next to impossible 

 to strike his head, the only part in which he is vulnerable ; 

 for you might almost as well batter a feather-bed as the 

 body of a bear, so encased and shielded by an enormous 

 layer of fat. In our climate, he becomes torpid during 

 winter, generally choosing for his hybemaculum, some large 

 hollow log, or a cavity beneath the root of an overthrown 

 tree. The species is numerous in all the wooded parts of 

 this continent, even to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. 

 In the southern states, he commits depredations on the 



