THE BLACK BEAR. 283 



tribes, who make various articles of clothing 

 out of its skin, and use its soft, woolly hair for 

 their rude fabrics. 



THE BLACK BEAR. 



The black bear, however clumsy in appear- 

 ance, is active, vigilant, and persevering, pos- 

 sesses great strength, courage, and address, 

 and undergoes with little injury the greatest 

 fatigues and hardships in avoiding the pursuit 

 of the hunter. Like the deer it changes its 

 haunts with the seasons, and for the same rea- 

 son, viz., the desire of obtaining suitable food, or 

 of retiring to the more inaccessible parts, where 

 it can pass the time in security, unobserved by 

 man, the most dangerous of its enemies. 



During the spring months it searches for food 

 in the low rich alluvial lands that border the 

 rivers, or by the margins of such inland lakes as, 

 on account of their small size, are called by us 

 ponds. There it procures abundance of suc- 

 culent roots and tender juicy plants, upon which 

 it chiefly feeds at that season. During the sum- 

 mer heat, it enters the gloomy swamps, passes 

 much of its time in wallowing in the mud like a 

 hog, and contents itself with crayfish, roots, and 

 nettles, now and then seizing on a pig, or per- 



