54 THE BLACK BEAR OF PENNSYLVANIA 



bears of Europe. In the Tyrol there are many "Baren- 

 Wegs" or Bear Paths. 



In this respect they are also like the wolves, pan- 

 thers, elk, deer and bison, which had their favorite 

 lines of travel well defined through the woods. 

 Wounded bears were api: to attack hunters at times. 

 James David, veteran surveyor of Clinton County, 

 father of Flavins J. David, mentioned previously, 

 wounded a large bear. While walking along the path 

 looking for it, the animal rose up from some bracken 

 where it was lying, and bit him savagely in the thigh ; 

 he carried the scar to his dying day, which occurred 

 in 1892, when he was in his 87th year. 



It is interesting to many how in Pennsylvania the 

 bear got switched off from the animal which sees its 

 shadow in favor of the groundhog. Ner Middles- 

 warth's version, heard from the Indians and con- 

 densed from the story as it appeared in "Juniata 

 Memories/' is as follows : The bear raid groundhog 

 were hibernating in the same cave, and the air feeling 

 so cold on Candlemas Day, February 2, the larger 

 animal ordered the smaller one to go out and report, 

 and having performed the errand so satisfactorily, he 

 was always afterwards required to be the weather 

 prophet, hence "Groundhog Day." 



Mrs. Robert Mulford, of Xew York City, states 

 tha'i: the bear is still the Candlemas Day symbol in 

 Northern New York, in the vicinity of Ogdensburg 

 and Watertown. According to an interesting writer 

 in the ''Clinton County Times" of February -i, 1921, 



