QUADRUPEDS. 43 



about one hundred and twelve days, leads a retired and concealed 

 life. 



In the northern parts of this continent, the subterraneous re- 

 treats of the black bear may be readily discovered by the mist 

 which uniformly hangs about the entrance of the den, as the ani- 

 mal'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 quan- 

 tity of snow has fallen, and does not again venture abroad, if un- 

 disturbed, until the end of March or beginning of April, he must 

 consequently spend at least four months in a state of torpidity, 

 and without obtaining food. It is therefore not surprising that, 

 although the bear goes into his winter quarters in a state of ex- 

 cessive fatness, he should come out in the spring of the year ex- 

 tremely emaciated. 



The northern Indians occasionally destroy the bear by blocking 

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

 open the top of it, kill the animal with a spear or gun. Some- 

 times they throw a noose round his neck, draw him up to the top 

 of the hole, and kill him with a hatchet. 



The black bear is occasionally captured in large and strong steel 

 traps, well secured by a chain to a neighboring tree, and laid in a 

 path over which a freshly-killed carcass has been drawn along, 

 or he is taken in a noose suspended from a strong sapling. A 

 common mode of hunting this animal is to follow him with two or 

 three well-trained dogs. When he finds that he is pursued, he 

 generally pushes directly forward for eight or ten miles, or farther, 

 if not overtaken ; as the dogs come up with him their repeated at- 

 tacks cause him to turn for the purpose of striking at them, and if 

 they do not dexterously avoid his blows they will be killed, as he 

 strikes with very great force. To avoid the vexation produced by 

 the dogs, he mounts a tree, ascending for twenty or thirty feet, but 

 is allowed very little rest, for the hunter now approaching, ho 

 throws himself to the earth, and hurries onwards, being still pur- 

 sued and worried by the dogs. Again he is obliged to take refuge 

 in a tree, and sometimes climbs as near as possible to the top, en- 

 deavoring to conceal himself among the foliage. The hunter now 

 strikes against the trunk of the tree, as if engaged in cutting it 

 down ; the poor bear soon betrays his hiding-place, and slipping 

 to the end of the longest branch, gathers his body up, and drops 

 from a vast height to the ground, ^hence he often appears to re- 



