The Black Bear. 



55 



SKULL OF BLACK BEAR. 



Bruin's weakness is for pork, and to 

 obtain it he will run any risk. When the 

 farmers, after suffering severe losses at 

 his hands, become unusually alert, he 

 retires to the depths of the forest and 

 solaces himself with a young moose, 

 caribou, or deer. He seldom or never 

 attacks a full-grown moose, but traces of desperate encounters, in 

 which the cow-moose has battled for her offspring, are frequently met 

 with in the woods. The average value of a bear, including the 

 bounty, is twenty dollars. This being the case, it may appear sur- 

 prising that larger numbers are not taken. But the black bear com- 

 bines extreme cunning with great sagacity, and every year he seems 

 to be getting more on his guard, and suspicious of all devices in- 

 tended for his capture. Large, full-grown 

 animals are seldom killed. A black bear 

 skin, taken at the proper season, is not 

 excelled by any other kind of fur. If prop- 

 erly dressed, it possesses great softness and 

 a gloss peculiar to itself. The fur is highly 

 esteemed in Europe, where it is used for 

 sleigh and carriage robes and coat linings 

 and trimmings. It is also in much request 

 in England and other parts of Europe, for the shakos of certain 

 infantry regiments and the housings and trappings of cavalry. 



In the autumn of 1879, in the Red Rock district, Province of 

 New Brunswick, eighteen bears were killed, only two of which had 

 arrived at maturity ; some of them were only yearlings. Only ten or 

 twelve settlers and their families inhabit the district, and during that 

 year seventy-three head of stock, including sheep, hogs, and horned 



cattle, were destroyed by bears. This dis- 

 trict, situated on the extreme outskirts of 

 civilization, is the bear's paradise. The 

 \^ £ houses in most cases are built of logs, and 



the occupants are a stalwart, simple race, 



whose manners and customs carry you 



back to the frontier life of half a century 



hind-paws. ago. They are hospitable to a degree not 



FORE-PAWS. 



