The Black Bear. 53 



It was his theory that the balsam prevented bodily waste, and that 

 when the bears came out in the spring they dug up and ate large 

 quantities of a root which had the effect of restoring bodily functions 

 that had been suspended during the period of hibernation. The den 

 is sometimes revealed by a small opening over the bear's place of 

 concealment, where the snow has been melted by his breath. When 

 efforts are made to dislodge him, by making a fire of boughs and moss 

 at the entrance to his den, he will attempt to trample the fire out, and 

 often succeeds. He has, however, a natural dread of fire, and at the 

 first signs of a forest-fire becomes greatly alarmed, and flies to the 

 open clearings and roadways. I once passed on horseback through 

 a forest-fire which was burning on each side of the road, and most of 

 the distance I was accompanied by a large black bear, that was fol- 

 lowing that avenue of escape. 



It would seem improbable that the young of the black bear were 

 liable to fall a prey to the fox and black cat, or fisher, yet such is the 

 fact. This happens, of course, when the cubs are very young and 

 incapable of following their dam in her search for food. The black 

 cat is the most successful cub-slayer. The fox, notwithstanding his 

 proverbial sagacity, is often surprised by the return of the bear, and 

 is killed before he can escape from the den. An Indian hunter, who 

 knew of two litters of cubs which he intended to capture as soon as 

 they were old enough to be taken from their dam, was anticipated in 

 one case by a black cat, and in the other by a fox. The latter paid 

 the penalty of his adventure with his life, and was found in the den 

 literally torn into shreds by the furious bear. The fox had killed 

 one of the cubs, when the old bear surprised and dispatched him, 

 and went off with the two remaining cubs. The Indian overtook and 

 slew her and captured the cubs. Upon another occasion, he was not 

 so fortunate. Stimulated by the large price offered by the officers of 

 a garrison town for a pair of live cubs, he was indefatigable in his 

 endeavors to find a den. One day, when accompanied by his little 

 son, a boy of ten, he discovered unmistakable traces of a bear's den, 

 near the top of a hill strewn with granite bowlders, and almost 

 impassable from the number of fallen pines. One old pine had fallen 

 uphill, and its upreared roots, with the soil clinging to them, formed, 

 with a very large rock, a triangular space into which the snow had 

 drifted to a depth of ten or twelve feet. The Indian was about to 

 4A 



