BLACK BEAK 155 



makes it a more dangerous foe than even the much-dreaded 

 grizzly. 



BLACK BEAR. 



None of the ferae natures are better known in a state of 

 captivity than the black bear. What village school-boy, 

 however remote the hamlet in which he resides, can not 

 remember poor Bruin being led round by some half-wash- 

 ed, uncombed foreigner, or his forming a portion of the at- 

 tractions which drew the gaping crowd to enter the strong- 

 smelling precincts of the annually-visiting erratic menage- 

 rie ? Alas ! hard is the poor bear's life when he is thus a 

 prisoner. In summer he is kept on half-diet, and shut up 

 in a miserable den ; in winter he is stowed away in a cellar, 

 and possibly, at least once a week, baited with curs, that 

 the blackguard owner may raise enough funds to carry on 

 his vagrant life. How different this from the life the bear 

 enjoyed in his native woods, wandering about at pleasure, 

 enjoying every luxury of nature that the seasons produce, 

 and, if in a country subject to a severe winter, quietly sleep- 

 ing through that portion of the year when the winds, load- 

 ed with frost and snow, whistle round his snug retreat ! 

 The black bear at one period was very widely distributed 

 over the North American continent. Its range now, on 

 account of the advance and increase of population, has been 

 much restricted ; still, wherever there are large tracts of 

 uncultivated ground, representatives of this species will be 

 found, whether in Canada or Labrador, Florida, Georgia, or 

 the Far West, until you reach the Rocky Mountains, beyond 

 which I have never heard of the black bear being seen, the 

 cinnamon bear and the grizzly bear there supplying his 

 place. So numerous still are the black bears in some parts 

 of Arkansas that a portion of each year is set aside by the 

 squatters and farmers for their capture, and large packs of 

 curs, specially trained to assist, are kept for this purpose ; 



