260 HUNTING SPORTS OF THE WEST. 



above is the Virginian Deer, Oervus Virginianus ; and 

 that, until I be able to present you with a full account 

 of its habits and history, you may consult for information 

 respecting it the excellent Fauna Americana of my es- 

 teemed friend Dr. Harlan, of Philadelphia. 



SCIPIO AND THE BEAR, 



THE Black Bear, (Ursus Americanus,) says Mr. 

 Audubon,* however clumsy in appearance, is active, 

 vigilant, and persevering; possesses great strength, 

 courage, and address ; and undergoes with little injury 

 the greatest fatigues and hardships in avoiding the pur- 

 suit of the hunter. Like the deer, it changes its haunts 

 with the seasons, and for the same reason, namely, the 

 desire of obtaining suitable food, or of retiring to. the 

 more inaccessible parts, where it can pass the time in 

 security, unobserved by man, the most dangerous of its 

 enemies. During the spring months, it searches for food 

 in the low, rich, alluvial lands that border the rivers, or 

 by the margins of such inland lakes as, on account of 

 their small size, are called by us ponds. There it pro- 

 cures abundance of succulent roots, and of the tender 

 juicy stems of plants, upon which it chiefly feeds at that 

 season. During the summer heat, it enters the gloomy 

 swamps, passes much of its time in wallowing in the 



* Ornithological Biography. 



