112 WATCHED BY WILD ANIMALS 
loyal black bear were familiar figures in the 
West. The pranks of the bear easily brought 
drinks enough to enable the cruiser to be drunk 
most of the time. Many times, when going to 
my room in the early morning after work on a 
night shift, I found the cruiser asleep in the 
street entrance to my lodging house. The faith- 
ful bear—Tar Baby—sat by the cruiser’s side, 
patiently waiting for his awakening. 
The black bear has a well-developed brain ana 
may be classed among the alert animals of the 
wild. Its senses are amazingly developed; they 
seem to be ever on duty. When a possible 
enemy is yet a mile or so distant they receive 
by scent or by sound a threatening and wireless 
message on the moving or through the stationary 
air. Therefore it is almost impossible to ap- 
proach closely a wild bear. 
With the black bear, as with every living thing, 
every move calls for safety first; and this ex- 
ceedingly alert animal is among the very first to 
appreciate a friendly locality. 
The black bear has never been protected as 
a game animal; through all the seasons of the 
year, with gun and dogs, the hunter is allowed 
to pursue him. As he is verging on extinction, 
and as he gives to the wilds much of its spirit, 
there ought to be a closed season for a few years 
to protect this rollicking fellow of the forest. 
