Black Bear 
salt grass back of the beaches, and later gathers berries and 
roots from the bogs thawed for a little while at the surface by 
the long hours of sunlight. The polar bear’s courage in defense 
of her young is well known. Almost every Arctic explorer has 
brought back vigorous accounts of her valour and_ self-sacrifice. 
If only the humans could have shown up half as well as the 
bears in these encounters, they would make much more cheer- 
ful reading. 
Black Bear 
Ursus americanus Pallas 
Called also Cinnamon Bear. 
Length. 5 feet. 
Description. Colour entirely black, with a brownish tinge on the 
face. Some individuals are uniform dark chestnut or cinna- 
mon, with purplish reflections in certain lights, and are 
called ‘‘Cinnamon Bears.” For many years this colour phase 
was thought to represent a distinct species. 
Range. Forest regions of North America, except the Gulf States, 
and Labrador, where allied varieties occur. 
The black bear originally inhabited nearly all the woods of 
North America. It is still fairly common in lonely regions where 
there is much thick timber and rough land. 
The black bear differs from the typical bear of literature in 
a great many ways; the bear of folk-lore and story-books, that 
roars and attacks people on sight, is the brown bear of Europe, 
a rough, shaggy beast, clumsy and awkward, like our grizzly 
bear. The black bear is a smooth-coated, well-shaped fellow, 
savage enough when attacked and compelled to fight for its life, 
or to protect its cubs, but at other times timid and inoffensive. 
When you walk through the woods the shy rabbit allows you 
to approach to within a few steps before it takes fright and 
goes bounding away, but the black bear is much more easily 
frightened. Long before you have got within sight of him he is 
running for his life with almost the speed of a fox, yet in his 
encounters with dogs he has proved himself a dangerous antag- 
onist, plucky and ready to fight. The fact is, his terror of man 
is the only thing that could possibly save him. If he had as- 
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