BLACK BEAR. 127 



The different sizes to which black bears attain in 

 various sections of the country are somewhat remark- 

 able ; so much so that I have often been induced 

 to believe that they were entitled at least to be con- 

 sidered varieties, but otherwise they are so similar 

 in habits of life, choice of food, and residence, that 

 it would only be opening a path that might lead to 

 innumerable intricacies without the probability of re- 

 sulting in benefit. The black bear of Michigan, 

 Wisconsin, and the. regions bordering on these States, 

 never exceeds two hundred and fifty pounds ; these 

 are generally denominated hog bear ; but when 

 you descend the Mississippi and get into the cane- 

 brakes of Arkansas, numbers are annually killed 

 that reach four hundredweight. Coming eastward, 

 you find a still larger animal, and I have heard from 

 undoubted sources that in the State of Maine; and 

 along the edges of New Brunswick, six, or even seven 

 hundred pounds' weight is no unusual size for bears to 

 attain. Doubtless these differences are occasioned by 

 varieties or abundance of food that the different 

 regions produce, not temperature or climate, as the 

 difference between the latitude of Wisconsin and Maine 

 is very trifling. 



Without further preamble, I will attempt a de- 

 scription. The bear is very short in carcass, with 



