AN EXTENSIVE RANGE. 275 



branch for a short space until the irritation subsides, 

 when he again advances to the attack. 



"The habitat of the black bear is very extensive. 

 As he affects the woods both for the shelter they supply 

 as well as for the fruits, larvae, nuts, etc., there to be 

 found, he is seldom met with at a distance from timber. 

 In all the large forest-covered districts, therefore, of 

 North America, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, both 

 in the United States and in Canada, the black bear is 

 more or less plentiful. 



" The open prairies, the arid deserts which stretch 

 along the Rocky Mountains, as well as the gloomy 

 passes and timbered valleys among these hills, are the 

 home of the fierce grizzly bear. In Canada another 

 bear, considered by some to be identical with the Ursus 

 arctos, or brown bear of Northern Europe, is found 

 ranging over the sterile regions known as the ' Barren 

 Grounds.' 



" In these desolate regions, too, is found the Polar 

 bear, whose geographical distribution has, it is sup- 

 posed, no limit in a northern direction. 



" The advance of civilization has, of course, thinned 

 the numbers as well as restricted the range of the 

 black bear. Two centuries ago the vast region between 

 the Atlantic and the western limits of the forests 

 beyond the Mississippi formed a habitat peculiarly well 

 suited to the requirements of this animal. But it has 

 disappeared from many districts before the encroach- 

 ments of the settlers upon its woodland haunts, al- 



(786) 18 



