VIII 

 THE AMERICAN BLACK BEAR 



PART II CHARACTERISTICS, HABITS 

 AND DISTRIBUTION 



I HAVE spent a good many weeks, even months, 

 at a time, in the various ranges of the black bear, 

 and might really say with truth that we have 

 practically lived together side by side. Some- 

 times just a little ridge might have separated us, 

 where I could see, possibly the next morning 

 after, that he had been having a fine feast in a 

 blueberry patch. 



One night we were a little more sociable. I had 

 just removed the pelt from a coyote, and had 

 intended carrying the carcass away from the 

 camp the next day, but left it that night a few 

 feet from my tent. During the night my friend 

 (who, by the way, always reminds me of a good- 

 natured boy with a fur overcoat on), came down 

 and saved me the trouble by carrying it away for 

 me. I did not hear him arrive, for I believe I 



