BLACK BEAR. 155 
makes it a more dangerous foe than even the much-dreaded 
grizzly. 
BLACK BEAR. 
None of the ferw nature are better known in a state of 
captivity than the black bear. What village school-boy, 
however remote the hamlet in which he resides, can not 
remember poor Bruin being led round by some half-wash- 
ed, uncombed foreigner, or his forming a portion of the at- 
tractions which drew the gaping crowd to enter the strong- 
smelling precincts of the annually-visiting erratic menage- 
rie? Alas! hard is the poor bear’s life when he is thus a 
prisoner. In summer he is kept om half-diet, and shut up 
in a miserable den; in winter he is stowed away in a cellar, 
and possibly, at least once a week, baited with curs, that 
the blackguard owner may raise enough funds to carry on 
his vagrant life. How different this from the life the bear 
enjoyed in his native woods, wandering about at pleasure, 
enjoying every luxury of nature that the seasons produce, 
and, if in a country subject to a severe winter, quietly sleep- 
ing through that portion of the year when the winds, load- 
ed with frost and snow, whistle round his snug retreat! 
The black bear at one period was very widely distributed 
over the North American continent. Its range now, on 
_ account of the advance and increase of population, has been 
much restricted; still, wherever there are large tracts of 
uncultivated ground, representatives of this species will be 
found, whether in Canada or Labrador, Florida, Georgia, or. 
the Far West, until you reach the Rocky Mountains, beyond 
which I have never heard of the black bear being seen, the 
cinnamon bear and the grizzly bear there supplying his 
place. So numerous still are the black bears in some parts 
of Arkansas that a portion of each year is set aside by the 
squatters and farmers for their capture, and large packs of 
curs, specially trained to assist, are kept for this purpose; 
