THE BLACK BEAR OF PENNSYLVANIA 19 



ing their mates. When two of them take a fancy for 

 the same female, they fight for the prize in unrelenting 

 fury. At other seasons the males are inclined to lead 

 solitary lives, in the depths of the forest, far from the 

 presence of man. The bear seldom makes an un- 

 provoked attack on a human being, and when it does 

 so, it is because it has become desperate from the 

 pangs of hunger. Then it is greatly to be dreaded 

 by the benighted traveler who is alone where desperate 

 bears abound, with no companion or faithful dog to 

 share his watch. 



Bears climb trees and rocks with facile ease, and 

 they swim well, bathing often in Summer. They are 

 also expert diggers. During the time when it is en- 

 gaged in feeding, the bear climbs constantly up all 

 kinds of elevated spots, searching for food, either 

 vegetable or animal. Leaves of trees, fruit, nuts and 

 nests of ants and wild bees, berries and fruit 01 

 vines are favorite articles of diet. 



In Autumn, bears become exceedingly fat in con^ 

 sequence of ample feasts of fruit, nuts and wild honey 

 which they are able to enjoy, as they roam abroad 

 through the forests and barrens, and make prepara- 

 tions for passing the cold, inhospitable months of 

 Winter in some den, used for a hibernating home. 

 The supply of fat in its body serves the double pur- 

 pose of sustaining the creature in proper condition 

 during its long fast, and of loading the body with 

 carbon for the purpose of producing the state of 

 lethargy in which the anima I ' passes the Winter. 



