BEAR. 



Finding- at last. tint, i hey were cold and lifeless, she 

 raised her head towards the ship, and growled her 

 resentment, at. the murderers ; which they returned 

 with a volley of musket halls. She fell between her 

 cubs, and died licking their wounds." 



Many other instances might be quoted, illustrative 

 of the character of these singular animals, animals 

 which are perhaps more characteristic of those dis- 

 mal regions to which they are confined, than the 

 animals of almost any other region. They dwell, as 

 it were, upon the very verge of the living world, 

 being found as far to the north as the restless foot of 

 human discovery has penetrated ; and they are per- 

 haps the only animals not decidedly and habitually 

 inhabitants of the sea, which are found in every longi- 

 tude, and are in all longitudes exactly the same. We 

 cannot say positively that they range across the pole 

 of the earth's rotation, and pass from Asia to Ame- 

 rica, and from America to Asia by that route, because 

 there is a zone round the pole of which we have no 

 knowledge. But, as the observations of the recent 

 voyagers for discovery in the Arctic regions, corro- 

 borated by some other circumstances, lead us to con- 

 clude that the latitude of the magnetic pole (or poles) 

 has the maximum of cold, and that the climate of the 

 pole of rotation is not so severe, we may there- 

 fore suppose, without any violent straining of theory, 

 that, in the perpetual day which reigns there for a 

 longer period than in the limits of their habitation 

 southward, the polar bears range over the whole polar 

 zone, till those confines where the sea is too clear of 

 ice for their habits ; and that they are thus the only 

 animals which have the command of all the meri- 

 dians on the globe. 



;3. The BLACK BKAR ( Unus American). The black 

 bear differs from the other species of the genus by 

 having the nose and forehead almost on the same 

 line, though the forehead is rather more prominent 

 Ih.s projection of the front is less apparent at the 

 upper part than in the brown bear of Europe. The 

 palms of the hands and soles of the feet are very 

 short, and the whole body is covered with lone 

 shining, straight, black hair, which is by no means 

 harsh to the touch. The face is marked with fawn 

 colour on both sides, and a circular spot of the same 

 colour is observable in some individuals in front of 

 the eye ; others have the muzzle of a shinim* li-ht 

 yellow, with a white line beginning at the root of the 

 nose and extending to each side of the angle of the 

 mouth. This extends over the cheek to a white 

 space shaded with fawn colour, covering all the 

 throat it descends upon the breast. The vcllow 

 bear of Carolina is also a variety of the black or 

 American bear. Captain Franklin saw adults of 

 this species in the neighbourhood of Cumberland 

 House, which were red, and remarked that the cubs 



these red bears were black, while the cubs of the 

 black individuals were as often of a red colour It is 

 said that the black bear can be also distinguished by 



i having one more molar tooth than the brown 

 bear. They are found throughout North America 

 from the shores of the Arctic Sea to its southern extre- 

 mity. That they must have existed in great numbers 

 throughout this extent of country, before its settlement 

 by Europeans, may be easily believed, from the im- 

 mense number of skins which can even now be pro- 

 cured of tins animal. About thirty-six years ago 

 one hundred and ninety-two thousand four hundred 

 and ninety-seven bear skins were exported from 



329 



Quebec ; in the year 182-2, the Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany exported three thousand skins of the black 

 bear. 



American Black Bear. 



On the woooed portions of the rocky mountain? 

 Captains Clark and Lewis saw black bears, and sub- 

 sequently found them on the great plains of the Co- 

 lumbia, and in the tract of country lying between 

 these plains and the Pacific Ocean. Occasionally 

 they are found throughout the territories of the 

 United States, in the wooded and mountainous 

 regions, and in unsettled districts. Their skins are 

 of great use to the inhabitants as a substitute fo- 

 manntactnred woollens, such as blankets, &c. 



Under ordinary circumstances the black bear is 

 not remarkable for its ferocity, nor is it in the habit 

 of attacking man without being provoked. When 

 wounded, he turns on his enemy with prodi"-ious 

 energy and defends himself daringly. Duriu the 

 coupling season, this disposition is more fully shown, 

 as the males are then more excited, and are conse- 

 quently less lazy ami clumsy than they are in the 

 autumn. If this bear is taken' when young, it is easily 

 domesticated, and taught many tricks ; he is frequently 

 to be seen exhibited by showmen as a "learned" 

 bear ; but, poor beast, all grown up children should 

 know enough of natural history to be aware, that 

 these feats are performed by the bear, because he has 

 struggled through a long course of discipline, hard 

 and tortuous, to bring him to this state of supposed 

 improvement. When confined they are remarkable 

 lor the persevering manner in which they move 

 backwards and forwards as far as their chain will 

 admit, thus showing their impatience of constraint. 

 This wish for exercise is shown more conspicuously 

 when the animal is confined in a very small cage 

 where he has not room to turn round. Under these 

 circumstances he moves himself in every direction, 

 that his narrow limits will allow by stepping from 

 side to side of his cage, and then, by raising and 

 instantly depressing his body, as if about to leap from 

 the ground, he gives his frame a degree of exercise 

 which tends to the preservation of his health. 



In the severe winters at the north, they often have 

 a difficulty in the procuring of their food, they then 

 travel to the southern regions in considerable num- 

 bers. In the report of Dr. Sibley, to the secretary 

 of war, relative to the territories bordering on Red 

 River, he states that, from all the information he 

 could gain, immense and almost incredible numbers 

 of these animals descended the mountains and passed 

 southwardly into the timbered country. 



