THE BLACK BEAR—COMEDIAN 107 
less in circumference. In this territory he is 
likely to spend his years, but in springtime he 
may descend to feed on the earliest wild gardens 
of the foothills. I have tracked black bears 
across mountain passes, and on one occasion I 
found a bear track on the summit of Long’s Peak. 
The black bear eats everything that is edible, 
although his food is mainly that of a vegeta- 
rian. He digs out rich willow and aspen roots 
in the shallow and soft places, and tears up 
numerous plants for their roots or tubers. He 
eats grass and devours hundreds of juicy weeds. 
In summer he goes miles to berry patches and 
with the berries browses off a few inches of 
thorny bush; he bites off the end of a plum-tree 
limb and consumes it along with its leaves and 
fruit. 
During summer I have seen him on the edge 
of snowfields and glaciers consuming thousands 
of unfortunate grasshoppers, flies, and other in- 
sects there accumulated. He is particularly 
fond of ants—tears ant hills to pieces and licks 
up the ants as they come storming forth to bite 
him. He tears hundreds of rotten logs and 
stumps to pieces for grubs, ants and their eggs. 
He freely eats honey, the bees and their nests. 
He often amuses himself and makes a most 
amusing and man-like spectacle by chasing and 
catching grasshoppers. 
