184 FRANK forester's FIELD SPORTS. 



THE AMERICAN BLACK BEAR. 



URSUS AMERICANUS. 



TJrsus Americanus ; Pallas, Sjncileg. Zool. vol. xiv. p. 6. Ursus 

 Americanus ; Harlan, Fauna, p. 51 ; Godman, Am. Nat. Hist. 

 vol. i, p. 114. Black Bear ; Penn. Arct. Zool. vol. i. p. 57. 

 Ours Gidaire ; Geoffroy, Mem. Mus. (variety.) The Black 

 Bear ; Emmons, Mass. Rej). 1840, p. 20. 



^'Characteristics. — Black or brownisli-black; a soiled brown or 

 yellowish patch on each side of the nose. Facial outline some- 

 what arched. Young, with hair wavy or curled. 



"DescrijJtion. — Ears high, oval, rounded at the tips, and distant. 

 Soles of the feet short ; the hair projects slightly beyond the 

 claws. Fur long, straight, shining and rather soft. Tail very 

 short. Claws short, blunt, somewhat incurved. 



"Color. — Beside the general black color of the body, which is 

 occasionally light brown, verging in some instances into soiled 

 yellowish, the sides of the nose are of a fawn color ; occasion- 

 ally a white dash on the forehead or throat, and sometimes a 

 small spot of the same is seen above the eyes. Length from 

 four to six feet. 



"The Bear, once so numerous in this State, is now chiefly to 

 be found in the mountainous and thinly inhabited districts, where 

 they breed. The female, after a gestation of about one hundred 

 days, brings forth two cubs. It does not eat animal food from 

 choice, and never unless pressed by hunger ; it prefers berries 

 and fruits. In the forests in the northern parts of the State, a 

 tornado will sometimes sweep through a region, prostrating 

 the pines to an extent of many miles. In the course of a few 

 years, the wild-cherry tree springs up in great numbers in this 

 tract ; and in the fruit season, it becomes the resort of numerous 

 bears.'^ It also feeds on whortleberry, grapes, honey, persira- 



* " The effects of such a tornado we observed in Hamilton County, in tlie sum- 

 mer of 1840, near the Eighth Lake. The course of tiie windfall, as it is popu- 



