BEARS. 149 



present century, over 26,000 skins of this animal were exported, 

 their value being then anywhere from $100 to $200 each ; now they 

 are only procurable in much smaller numbers, and their value has 

 diminished a quarter of the above prices. The fur is composed 

 of soft smooth hairs, black and glossy, presenting a very fine 

 appearance. 



In size they are much smaller than the previously described 

 animals, as they seldom exceed five feet in total length. They 

 live chiefly on roots and berries, being especially fond of cherries, 

 and only when these are not procurable resort to fresh eggs, 

 insects (particularly ants), birds, and small quadrupeds ; and 

 although their diet is by preference a vegetable one, hunger will 

 compel them to become carnivorous, and occasionally to steal a 

 pig, or even, exceptionally, to kill a cow. They are said to be very 

 destructive animals in the maize and melon fields, and they search 

 with great assiduity for honey, in which they delight. Their keen 

 powers of scent enable them to locate the trees where the bees 

 have made a hive. Clambering up, for this species are great 

 climbers, they soon find its correct position. They will then pro- 

 ceed to gnaw the trunk until an aperture is made large enough to 

 admit the paws, which are inserted, and the honeycomb and bees 

 are scooped with avidity into the capacious maw. 



Purchas,^ in his collection of travels, gives Champlain's account 

 of his explorations in "Nova Francia," and his penetrating 

 to the " Great Lake," on whose shores he found " a store of 

 bears " and many tribes of Indians. " But I dare not," he adds, 

 "give for current that which Monsieur de Monto hath recited 

 unto me, that these nations have tame bears which they teach 

 to carry them upon trees for want of ladders." 



Bears are excellent swimmers, and take readily to the water for 

 the purpose of attaining the opposite side of a river, or even a 

 broad lake. 



"As a rule these bears den up in winter," says Dr. 0. H. 

 Merriam,* in his able and accurate description of this animal, from 



5 " Purchas, his Pilgrimes." 



6 " The Vertebrates of the Adirondack Region," in the "Transactions of the Linpaean 

 Society of New York." 



