Black Bear 
and decaying timber. Later, when the ice has melted, they can 
get succulent plants along the margin of lakes and ponds, and 
catch suckers and other fish that run up the ‘‘rattling shallows.” 
Then they go looking for checkerberries on sunny banks in the 
woods, or, if the opportunity offers, kill cows and sheep that have 
been turned out to pasture. In summer they keep to gloomy 
swamps and mountain-sides, where they feed on roots, nettles, 
etc., to a certain extent. In hot weather they get lots of fun 
wallowing in the mud like so many pigs. 
In August and later they visit the farmers’ corn-fields and 
munch the juicy ears and stalks; pork is a favourite meat of 
theirs, and they often show an astonishing degree of boldness, 
for an animal usually so shy, in breaking into pig-pens in the 
night. As autumn advances they gather nuts, acorns, wild grapes, 
berries and mushrooms. It is at this season that they get the 
most honey, and also dig up the nests of savage yellow-jackets, 
in spite of all the stinging that inevitably follows. 
The cubs are sportive creatures, full of pranks, running, 
leaping, wrestling, boxing, and playing hide-and-seek, and attempt- 
ing all sorts of tricks and jokes to tease the old one. But 
though they do everything they can think of to worry her, 
she thinks everything of them, and guards them jealously; and 
when she is with them is about the only time that she is ever 
really dangerous. She leads them all over the woods, teaching 
them everything she knows: how to catch mice and dig ants 
out of a rotten log, or slap a bull-frog out of the water. 
Most bears retain a sense of the humorous, even after they 
are full-grown and surly; in captivity they are less to be pitied 
than most wild animals, for this keen sense of fun enables them 
to get a great deal of amusement out of an old hat or an empty 
barrel, especially if any one is watching and ready to take a hand 
in the game. 
The black bear, moreover, is almost always interested in 
observing the curious ways of the humans in front of his cage, 
Even in the woods he often exhibits a desire to study the habits 
of men, creeping up under cover from behind to watch them 
as they endeavour to catch fish for food, or gather blueberries just 
as he himself does. There are more people who have been 
watched and studied in their summer outings by bears than are 
aware of it, for the bear is ever careful to keep well hidden, and 
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