DESCRIPTION OF THE BLACK BEAE. 147 



black bears in some parts of Arkansas that a portion of 

 each year is set aside by the squatters and farmers for their 

 capture, and large packs of curs, specially trained to assist, 

 are kept for this purpose ; and numerous instances are on 

 record of thirty, or even forty, bears having in a couple of 

 months fallen before one hunter's rifle. The flesh, which 

 is with justice much prized, is either salted down or 

 smoked for future use; while the pelt furnishes a bed, 

 or is sold to the traders, ultimately to be made into rugs 

 for sleighs or the coarser kinds of furs for women and 

 children. 



The different sizes that black bears attain in various 

 sections of the country are somewhat remarkable : so much 

 so that I have often been induced to believe them entitled 

 to be considered different species, but otherwise they are 

 so similar in habits of life, choice of food, and residence, 

 that it would only be opening a path that might lead to 

 innumerable intricacies without the probability of resulting 

 in benefit. The black bear of Michigan, Wisconsin, and 

 the regions bordering on these States, never exceeds two 

 hundred and fifty pounds these are generally denominated 

 hog bear ; but when you descend the Mississippi and get 

 into the cane-brakes of Arkansas, numbers are annually 

 killed that reach four hundredweight. Coming eastward, 

 you find a still larger animal; and I have heard from 

 undoubted sources that in the State of Maine, and along 

 the edges of New Brunswick, bears have been known to 

 attain six, or even seven hundred pounds' weight. Doubt- 

 less these differences are occasioned by varieties or 

 abundance of food that the different regions produce, not 



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