THE BLACK BEAR OF PENNSYLVANIA 55 



the Candlemas Day legends were brought to the 

 Pennsylvania mountains by the early Swiss settlers, 

 and quotes the following from an almanac printed in 

 Basel, in 1672: 



"Selon les enciens se dit 

 Si le soliel clairment luit 

 A la Chandeleur, vous verrez 

 Qu'encore un hyver vous aurez, 

 Par cette reigle se gouverne 

 L'ours qui retourne en sa caverne." 



. It is well worth noting, also, that the groundhog, 

 which our Swiss pioneers may have substituted for 

 the bear, is an animal akin to the marmot, one of the 

 most plentiful and popular Alpine mammals. Chris- 

 tian Bixel, formerly of Bern, the "City of the Bears," 

 remarked 'that he found himself very much at home 

 in the highland abode which he took up on the moun- 

 tain top between Pine Station and Loganton (Clinton 

 County) in 1867, on account of the prevalence of bears 

 and groundhogs. 



He killed several large bears, and for years bear 

 paws nailed on the ends of his sheds and barns were 

 the delight of travelers on 'the mountain road, and 

 the wonder of this writer's early boyhood. When 

 asked how, single-handed and without a dollar, he had 

 changed a rocky and forested' mountain summit into 

 one of the best farms in the county, Mr. Bixel mod- 

 estly replied: "A man can do anything if he will, 

 and he must." 



As to the exactitude of the groundhog's prognosti- 

 cations, the same writer in the "Times" adds : "If the 



