THE MUSQUAW, OR AMERICAN BLACK BEAR. 



399 



hopes that his conduct has been, on the whole, satisfactory to the dead Musquaw and 

 its relations. 



This curious custom is the more remarkable, as it bears a close analogy to the belief 

 of the Scandinavians, who are little less fastidious in their conduct towards the Bear. 

 No true Norwegian will ever speak of a Bear, as a Bear, but prefers to mention it as 

 " the old man with the fur cloak ; " or, more tersely and poetically, the " Disturber." 



As is the case with the Bears which have already been mentioned, the Black Bear is 

 in the habit of passing the cold months of winter in some comfortable residence which 

 it has prepared in the course of the summer. Practical hunters, however, remark that 

 unless the Bear is exceedingly fat at the commencement of the cold season, it does not 

 venture to betake itself to its winter home, but gets through the winter without hiber- 



MUSQUAW OR AMERICAN BLACK BEAR. Ursus Amerlcaaus, 



nation. When they can be detected in their dens, the hibernating Bears are often so 

 oppressed with irresistible sleep, that they can hardly be induced to move sufficiently 

 to enable their discoverer to plant a fatal wound. One old Nimrod told a companion 

 who had newly entered on the sport of Bear-hunting, that he had often been forced 

 to push the sleeping Bear with the muzzle of his rifle, in order to make the "somnolent 

 animal raise its head. 



This species of Bear is remarkably prolific, the number of cubs which are produced at 

 a birth being from one to four. When newly born they are very small, being only six or 

 eight inches in length, and covered with gray hair. The month in which they make their 

 entry into the world is either January or February, and they remain under strict maternal 



