358 THE AMERICAN BEAR. 



cars. The hair is also more smooth, black, soft^ and 

 glossy. The cheeks and throat are of a yellowish- 

 brown colour.— It is found in all the northern parts 

 of America: migrating occasionally southwards in 

 quest of its food, which is said to be entirely vege-» 

 table ; or sometimes, when pressed by excessive 

 liunger, fish, and particularly Herrings. 



These Bears arrive in Louisiana, driven thither by 

 the snows of the more northern climates, towards 

 the end of autumn. At this time they are always very 

 lean ; as they do not leave the north till the earth 

 is covered with snow, when their subsistence of 

 course becomes very scanty. 



In the country near the Missisippi, they seldom 

 venture to any great distance from the banks of that 

 liver ; but on each side have in winter such 

 beaten paths, that persons unacquainted with them 

 would mistake them for the tracks of men. Du Pratz 

 says he was once (though at a distance of nearly tw^o 

 hundred miles from any human dwelling,) for a 

 while deceived by one of them, which appeared as 

 though thousands of men had been walking along 

 ,it bare- footed. Upon inspection, however, he found 

 that the prints of the feet were shorter than those of 

 a man, and that at the end of each toe there was the 

 impres-.ion of a claw. '' It is proper (he says) 

 to observe, that in those paths the Bear does not 

 pique himself upon politeness, and will yield the 

 way to nobody ; therefore, it is prudent for a tra- 

 veller not to fall out with liim for such a trifling 

 affair*." 



• Du Pratz, 2G.1. 



