80 



With Rod and Gun in New England 



yards away. He said the way he pumped lead into that bear from his 

 Winchester was a caution. He brought it down, and it was a monster, 

 weighing over four hundred pounds." 



The black bear is omnivorous in its habits, everything eatable enter- 

 ing into its diet. It loves fish and is expert in catching chubs and suckers, 

 in brooks and other shallow waters, and even trout are captured by the 

 wandering fisher. It is not, as a rule, an aggressive animal to man, and 

 usually retires unless a female is approached, when she savagely defends 

 her cubs. The bear is very fond of corn while it is in the milk, and does 

 great damage when visiting the cornfields, by breaking down and destroy- 

 ing much more than it eats. 



Young moose, caribou and deer are often caught by it, and many a 

 farmer's flock of sheep has been decimated by the black freebooter. It 

 also often destroys young cattle, and its bonne bouche is a nice fat pig. 



The common method of capturing it is with a strong steel trap which, 

 instead of being firmly fixed at one spot, is fastened to a log which is 

 not so heavy but the bear can drag it ; this is called a " hobble " ; it effectu- 

 ally performs its work, that is, it prevents the bear from running away, but 

 allows it some liberty of movement. If the trap were firmly fastened, the 

 bear would quickly tear its foot from it ; but, being loose, it is dragged 

 along by the animal, leaving a distinct trail by which the hunter can follow 

 the captive and kill it. 



The bear is very tenacious of life ; its brain is very effectually pro- 

 tected by the thick skull, and it will carry off a number of bullets unless 

 it is shot through the heart. The bear is a great traveller, constantly 

 shifting from place to place in search of food. In its travels it usually 

 confines itself to certain circuits, generally following the same paths, which 

 are called runways. Its habits are chiefly nocturnal, although it often 

 moves about in the daytime. Probably the habits of none of our other 

 Carnivora have been more extensively treated of by writers, and the stories 

 that have been told of the slyness, destructiveness and ferocity of the 

 bear would fill volumes.* 



* Mr. John McV. Munro sends me the following interesting account 

 of the black bear. — E. A. S. 



"The bears of Nova Scotia differ in size and general appearance so 

 much that we designate them by various names, such as the cow bear, the 

 hog bear, and the smaller-sized black bear. The cow bear is much the 

 longest legged of the species and does not feed as much on grass and 

 leaves as the others, but kills and eats cattle, moose and sheep ; it is very 

 destructive, but is always poor in flesh. The hog bear is very fond of 

 nuts, grass, leaves, berries, and the tender shoots of ash trees. In early 

 summer they will settle in a locality near an ash swale and remain in that 

 neighborhood for weeks ; they climb up into the trees and break off the 

 limbs and then descend and eat them. About the last of June and from 



