254 BIG GAME OF NORTH AMERICA. 



and that lost us the Bear. We heard it fall out of the tree 

 and run. "No use to follow," remarked the old hunter. 

 "We must either seek a different portion of the mountains 

 to find another Bear, or turn our attention to killing some 

 Deer and turkeys. This Bear will tell all the Bears in its 

 range about us, and before to-morrow morning there will 

 not be a Bear in five miles of this place." 



Thus I lost the sight of a wild Bear, and did not see one 

 until 1844 found me on the banks of the Mississippi River, 

 where it was easier to kill a Bear than to find a squirrel at 

 the place where I am now living. But I treasured up the 

 many remarks of the old hunter as regards still-hunting. 



Coming to the West, I found some Bear-hunters employ- 

 ing dogs to find and bring the Bears to bay. It was 

 much easier, and, far more interesting, to use a pack of 

 good Bear-dogs than to go tramping through thick forests 

 in search of sign, or to lie in wait to kill one that has 

 taken to the corn-field, or is going to the hog-pen to carry 

 off a fat porker. 



There is no doubt in my mind that the Black Bear's 

 proper domain is a cold country, and that it grows to a 

 much larger size in the Alleghany and Blue Ridge Mount- 

 ains than it attains in the thickets of the Brazos River, pro- 

 vided- it lives a life undisturbed by hunters and the inroads 

 of civilization. 



The cubs follow their mother from the time she leads 

 them from their winter quarters until she hibernates the 

 following winter. The mother frequently returns to the 

 place where she brought forth her young, to rear another 

 litter. The yearling cubs seek a hibernation not far from 

 the mother. The second year, the cubs keep together, and 

 do not forget their mother. I have often seen the mother 

 with her two small cubs and her cubs of the year before 

 feeding together in sloughs, in search of craw -fish and suc- 

 culent roots. When three years old, the female usually 

 becomes a mother, and lives by herself, while the male 

 wanders to another place, apparently forgetful of its 

 mother or sister. 



