THE AMERICAN BLACK BEAR 211 



or crevice for such dainty morsels as grubs, cater- 

 pillars, crickets, and ants. The black bear seems 

 to partake of such a variety of food that it is hard 

 to say just which he enjoys the most. Ants are 

 one of his favorite dishes, and I have no doubt 

 that they consume as many of these as some of 

 the ant-eaters of South America. One of their 

 favorite methods of catching a certain species of 

 ants, which are very vicious little fighters, is to 

 thrust a paw in the midst of one of their hills, and 

 as they swarm over the bear's paw with the pur- 

 pose of attacking their enemy, they are quickly 

 lapped up. 



But what greater picture of contentment can 

 one imagine than a bear in a good-sized blueberry 

 patch? Sitting half up on his haunches and 

 pulling the branches toward him with his paws 

 fairly shoveling in the berries that help fatten 

 .lim up for the long winter they are indeed great 

 berry eaters and will often travel miles to locate 

 a patch, and then will patronize it long and often. 



Last fall in Sierra Madre Mountains in North- 

 ern Mexico I was camped for some weeks on a 

 wild canon through which ran a small river. 

 Along the banks grew numerous juniper trees 

 and for several miles I could see where the 

 branches had been literally all pulled down by 



