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The usual retreat of the black bear is in the most 

 remote and secret parts of the forest, where his den is 

 in the hollow of a decayed tree, or in a cavern formed 

 among- the rocks. He retires to this place when his 

 hunger is appeased, and in the winter he lies coiled 

 up there during the long- period of his torpidity. 

 During the period of gestation, which commences in 

 the month of October, the female of the black bear 

 leads a retired and solitary life for the whole period, 

 which is about one hundred and twelve days. We 

 have no instance on record of a bear in a state of 

 pregnancy being killed, though the mother and very 

 young cubs are frequently destroyed. 



In the northern part of the American continent, 

 the subterraneous reti'eats of the black bear may be 

 easily discovered by the mist which uniformly hangs 

 about the entrance of the den, as the animal's heat and 

 breathing prevent the mouth of the cave from being 

 entirely closed, however deep the snow may be. As 

 the black bear usually retires to his winter quarters 

 before any quantity of snow has fallen, and does not 

 again venture abroad till the end of March or the 

 beginning of April, he therefore spends at least four 

 months in a state of torpidity, and without obtaining 

 food. It is therefore not very surprising, though the 

 bear goes into his winter quarters excessively fat, that 

 he should come forth in the spring a melancholy 

 picture of emaciation. 



The black bear is sometimes destroyed by blocking 

 up the mouth of the cave with logs of wood, and then 

 suddenly breaking open the top of it, they kill the 

 animal with a spear or gun ; this method is, however, 

 considered both cowardly and wanton, as the bear 

 can neither escape nor offer the slightest injury to his 

 merciless- destroyers. The northern Indians display 

 great ingenuity in the manner in which they throw 

 the uoose around the neck of this animal, but the 

 barbarous way in which they despatch him with the 

 hatchet or tomahawk, after having drawn him to the 

 top of his hole, has little in it to admire. 



Sometimes he is caught in traps, strong steel ones 

 chained to a tree and laid in a path which has been 

 partially stained with blood, by drawing a newly- 

 killed carcass along it. At other times, a noose, sus- 

 pended from a strong bough, is substituted for the 

 trap, in a path similarly prepared. The bear, whose 

 sense of smell is exceedingly keen, always follows 

 upon the track along which a dead animal has been 

 drawn, even although it has left no trace perceptible 

 by the human senses. 



The common mode of hunting this bear is by two 

 or three well-trained dogs. When he finds that he is 

 pursued, he generally pushes forward for eight or ten 

 miles, and sometimes more, in nearly a straight course. 

 But. when the dogs come up to him, he turns and 

 strikes at them with his paws, the blows of which are 

 so severe, that one of them taking effect, would 

 instantly fell the strongest dog to the ground. The 

 great art in training the dogs consists in teaching them 

 to avoid these blows, and keep harassing the animal 

 till he is exhausted. When that is the case, he climbs a 

 tree to the height of twenty or thirty feet, at the root 

 of which the dogs remain and " give tongue" till the 

 hunter makes his appearance. When the hunter 

 appears, the bear drops to the ground, not for the 

 purpose of attacking him, but of making a new effort 

 at escape from the now increased number of his pur- 

 suers. But, as he is heated by the effort of climbing 

 and by the fall, though bears, from their form and also 



the nature of their covering, hill with much less injury 

 than any other animals of the same weight, he is much 

 more annoyed by the dogs than before. This makes 

 him take to a tree again for refuge, he then climbs as 

 high as it will bear him, and endeavours to conceal him- 

 self among the thick foliage. The hunter now strikes 

 against the trunk of the tree as if he were felling it, 

 which soon puts the bear in motion. He makes his 

 way to the extremity of a long and lofty branch, at 

 which he draws himself partially into the form of a 

 ball, and drops down, often from such a height as that 

 he rebounds up again for several feet, as if he were 

 an elastic substance. He rises again from this fall, 

 still uninjured, and seeks safety by flight as before. 

 His exertions are, however, so much greater than 

 those of his pursuers, that, whatever may be his 

 strength, they in time wear him out, and he is ulti- 

 mately shot, either when standing up to give battle 

 to the dogs, or when attempting to hide himself 

 behind the trunk of a tree. Such is the mode of bear 

 hunting where there are trees ; but in the large open 

 prairies he runs much farther, and the hunt is one of 

 greater ardour, unless when he is shot at an early- 

 stage ; but, if the marksman is not skilful, shooting is 

 rather a dangerous matter while the bear is unex- 

 hausted, as the pain arouses all his strength, and arms 

 him with the most desperate powers of revenge,sothat 

 he would be too much both for dogs and hunter. 



The Indians consider the black bear as the most 

 valuable of wild animals, and the chace of it as their 

 noblest field spor f ,, its death being always followed by 

 expressions of the greatest exultation. It is, indeed, 

 highly useful to them ; and, like the ox and the sheep, 

 there is no part of it which is not applied to some 

 purpose. The flesh is highly esteemed, and the paws 

 are reckoned the richest bonne bouchc that the wild 

 forests of America afford. The skin furnishes their 

 softest couch, and their most substantial protection 

 against the severities of the winter. Even the claws 

 have their value : they are bored and strung upon the 

 tendons of deer, to be worn as necklaces and other 

 ornaments. 



In the early part of the season the bear is not much 

 hunted, because it is then lean, and both more fleet 

 and more ferocious than after it has become fat. The 

 fat of course continues accumulating up to the time 

 when the bear retires to its winter retreat, and the 

 males, which are killed after the disappearance of the 

 greater number of the females, are both in finest fur 

 and " highest grease." The grease or fat collects in 

 great quantities on various parts of the body ; and a 

 very limpid oil is obtained from it. 



This bear is very tenacious of life, and as he stoutly 

 defends his grease to the very last extremity, it is 

 dangerous to touch him, unless he is shot directly 

 through the heart or the brain. A skilful hunter 

 never advances upon him without taking the precau- 

 tion to reload his rifle, as the bear often springs up 

 instantly and fiercely from a state of apparent death. 

 Shooting through the brain can be accomplished only 

 when the distance is short, and the bullet hits directly, 

 for the skull is so strong that an oblique shot is sure 

 to graze ; and bullets have glanced oft flattened from 

 the skulls of bears when discharged from a rifle at the 

 distance of ninety yards, without apparently having 

 injured the bone. At close quarters the blows of a 

 blunt instrument have little effect upon the body, or 

 eveu the head of the bear, unless he is hit on the 

 snout, upon which a moderate blow will stun and 



