352 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
[May 2, 1896. 
As they approached the house a comely young matron 
came to the open kitchen door, welcoming them with a 
pleasant smile and a cheery voice, while her keen eyes 
made a quick but comprehensive survey of the group. 
"Good mornin', gentlemen. You're the ones 'at drove 
that cross ol' buck away from the children?" 
Yes, ma'am," said Antoine, coming to the front with his 
politest manners; "we was be de zhontemans." 
But Joseph had not the effrontery to claim much of the 
glory for himself and Antoine, and said, jerking his 
thumb toward Uncle Lisha, "He done most on 't, ma'am. 
Ye see, he kind o' seemed tu hev the fust chance, an' so 
he took it." 
"Yes, I know," the young woman said, growing red in 
the face with suppressed laughter; "Janey here told me 
all about it," and the little girl retired from view behind 
her mother, who continued addressing Uncle Lisha. 
"I'm dreffly obleeged tu you, sir. But set your guns in 
the shed an' come right in, all of you, an' have a fried 
cake an' some cider." 
"Thank you, marm, I guess we won't go in," said Uncle 
Lisha; "but I wouldn't go ag'in a nut cake, for I hain't 
seen one for a week, and I be turrible dry, which fetched 
me here; but you needn't put yourself aout tu git cider, 
water 's good 'nough for us." 
" 'T ain't no trouble," and the woman bustled in, closely 
followed by the children, and returned with a heaped 
pan of doughnuts, fresh and hot from the kettle. "Naow 
jest help yourselves whilst I go an' draw some cider." 
"Don't ye," Uncle Lisha expostulated, "water 's plenty 
good enough for us." 
But the hospitality of their hostess was not to be re- 
strained, and she presently brought a brimming pitcher 
of cider to the great satisfaction of two of the party. 
"I'm afeared these fried cakes hes soaked fat," she said, 
breaking one and examining it critically when her guests 
were served. "They be," she declared in a grieved tone, 
"but mebby they'll go better'n none, if you hain't had 
none lately." 
"Queen Victory couldn't make no better," Uncle Lisha 
declared, "nor yit the President's wife, an' I da' say nary 
one on 'em gitB so good, for I s'pose likely they depends 
on hired gals tu make 'em." And his companions heartily 
seconded the praise. 
"It looks consid'able nat'ral raound here," he said, as 
his eyes roved over the old house and its surroundings, 
"on'y jest a leetle older'n it was twenty-five, mebby thirty 
year ago — time o' the war, anyway — when I was here 
'long wi' the m'lishy." 
"You don't say!" his hostess cried. "Why, I can jest 
remember a-seein' the soldiers here all raound, an' haow 
scairt I was! My I" 
"It hain't posserblel You don't look as if you could 
ha' be'n borned then," Uncle Lisha gallantly declared. 
"Wal, I was then," she answered with a pleased little 
lauerh, "an' I remember seein' the soldiers here an' the 
British boats 'way acrost the lake an' hearin' the cannons 
firin' over tu the P'int." And so the two fell to telling of 
scenes that had been impressed distinctly on the memory 
of one in the prime of manhood, and no less so on the 
infantile mind of the other. 
"Wal, We shall haftu be a-goin'," Uncle Lisha said, 
turning away reluctantly, "I want tu take these men 
aout ont' the P'int here, where they can see the broad 
lake." 
"An' you want to go to the landin'. It's got tu be quite 
a place, with a hoss boat a-runnin' on the ferry to Grog 
Harbor." 
"A hoss boat? You don't say! Wal, that's suthin' I 
never did see, ner these men nuther, I'll warrant. We're 
a thaousand times obleeged tu ye for the nutcakes an' 
cider, marm." 
"An' so be I tu you," said she, heartily. "I tell aour 
folks they'd ortu kill that ol' torment. He's treed me 
oncto, an' naow I take a club when I go where he is; but 
aour folks say he ain't cross, on'y notional jest." 
"Darn sech notions," said Joseph, caressing his rpcent 
bruises; "I wish't he'd got 'em aouten his head 'fore I met 
him." 
"Why, Jozeff, you didn't exactly meet him, he kind o' 
overtook ye," said the old man, with a merry twinkle in 
his eye. "Wal, good day, marm;" and they strolled 
away to the woods and the end of the point where the 
sheer wall bears its green crown of cedar high above the 
lake. 
The broad bay lay before them, and beyond the bold 
promontories of Thompson's Point and Split Rock the 
broader lake stretched far north to reach the sky. The 
lake was ruffled by a northerly breeze, and the white sails 
of the sloops and schooners running before it, or beating 
against it, gleamed against blue waves and sky, but 
among them all not one such imposing tower of canvas 
as Uncle Lisha had seen when the British brigs were 
swooping down on their expected prey. 
"Why, they looked julluk meetin' haousen, a-comin' 
over the water, an' the gunboats swarmin' 'raound 'em 
looked sassy, I tell ye. I s'pose aour folks was afeared 
they might land a mess o' sojes here an' go over cross lots 
tu where aour ships lay in t' other crik an' destr'y 'em, 
an' that's why we was posted here. But they never come 
a-nigh us an' kep' right on to where the' was a good lick- 
in' a-waitin' for 'em, an' they got it tew." 
When Joseph had crept to the verge of the cliff and 
ventured one brief glance downward where the waves 
chuckled wickedly in the low-roofed caves, he was ready 
to go and they wended their way to the ferry just in time 
to see the horse boat come splashing into port, the four 
horses plodding their unprogressive journey on the revolv- 
ing wheel, whose foothold always slid away beneath and 
behind them, and continually returned in a perpetual 
round of monotony. 
A drove of cattle in the first day of their long journey 
on the hoof to Boston markets crowded the deck with 
their drivers and a few other passengers, while the cap- 
tain steered his craft in austere silence till he shouted 
"Whoa" to his crew, who was the driver of the horses 
and passed the command to them, whereat they stood 
still and the boat surged up to the wharf with a bump that 
jostled all her animate freight and shook some profanity 
from the lips of her commander. 
When the boat was made fast there was a stir of 
preparation in the group of prospective passengers on the 
wharf, while the cattle swarmed ashore, urged by their 
drivers and followed by their other fellow voyagers edg- 
ing after them, step by step, in slow impatience, and all 
regarded with impartial interest by the little company of 
spectators. 
These presently turned their attention to a tin-peddler, 
bound on a trading expedition among the foreigners of 
the other shore, who was driving his red cart aboard. A 
bunch of brooms stuck upright in the hinder end of it, 
like the banner of the Dutch admiral, yet emblematic 
only of a peaceable conquest of housewives' hoarded rags 
and dried apples, some spoils of which were already 
gathered in sacks and bales on the roof of the cart. The 
peddler was a much less important figure in the world 
than either the sharp-faced wool buyer or the oily old 
cheese speculator who now led their horse and buggy 
aboard, but he and his red cart with its visible proof of 
traffic were greater objects of interest to the spectators, 
as was the grizzled old hunter who had outlived the deer 
of Vermont, and with his gaunt hounds, so long-eared 
and sad- faced that Uncle Lisha regretted Sam's absence, 
was on his way to put his long rifle to its old use in the 
still happy hunting grounds beyond the lake. 
After the ferryboat had waited awhile for a possible 
additional fare, which indeed came at top speed from the 
door of the stone tavern, the captain gave the order to the 
crew, the crew cracked his whip and shouted to the 
horses, who began their stumbling tramp, and the boat 
paddled off on her course. 
As the loungers dribbled away, some to the socialities 
of the bar-room, others to their homes, and the lowing of 
the cattle and the shouts of the drovers were blended in 
the distance, Uncle Lisha and his comrades strolled in 
the direction of the farmhouse. 
"I do' know but it's ridin' a free hoss tew fur, but I'm 
a-goin' tu ask 'em for a pocketfull o' them apples 'at'a 
a-layin' on|the ground," the old man said. "Looks 's if the' 
was more 'n they knowed what tu du with." 
"All raght, One' Lasha, Ah'll go on de lake an' wait for 
you an' Zhozeff, an' mebby Ah'll shot some dawk." So 
saying, Antoine skirted the orchard on his way toward 
the shore, while the others went to the house. There 
they lingered a while to talk with their hostess, and then, 
their request being cheerfully granted, they filled their 
pockets with mellow apples and went on to join Antoine. 
Their steps were hastened by the roar of his gun, and 
they found him rejoicing over three plump teal which 
were the result of the shot. After giving the particulars 
of the exploit Antoine shouldered the bag, which had 
grown plethoric since he left them, and picking up his 
gun and game, set forth toward camp. 
'"Why, Ann Twine," Uncle Lisha remarked as the 
Canadian trudged on before him, "you hev be'n sprytu 
git three ducks an' sech a snag o' wa'nuts sen you left us. 
You hain't shucked 'em, I know by the bulge on 'em, but 
it don't seem 's 'ough you'd ortu took quite so many 'thaout 
askin'." 
"Was Ah'll ask it de equirly? He was all de one gat it," 
was the laconic answer. 
Arriving at camp without further incident, Antoine 
flung down his burden with a sigh of relief, exclaiming 
as he straightened his shoulders: 
"Bah gosh, dat happle pooty heavy for carry!" 
"Apples?" Uncle Lisha repeated in surprise. "Is them 
apples? Where on airth did you git 'em?" 
"Wal, seh, One' Lasha," said Antoine, with an air of 
supreme satisfaction, "Ah'll was peek it up while you was 
ask for it. Ah'll t'ink dat was save tarn prob'ly, an' if 
dey'll and give it, dat was save de happle. Hein, One' 
Lisha?" 
"So you went an' stole them folkses apples," cried the 
old man, indignantly. "You tarnal mean, mis' able cree- 
tur, I'm a good min'tu make ye kerry 'em right stret back. 
I be, I swan!" 
"Ah'll can' do it, One' Lasha; Ah'll too tire, me. But if 
you'll >vant for carry it, Ah'll was help you load it on you 
back," 
"Ann Twine," Uncle Lisha roared with kindling wrath, 
"you pick up them apples an' kerry 'em stret back where 
you got 'em, or I'll shake ye aouten yer boots!" and the 
flash of fire in the gray eyes implied certain execution of 
the threat. 
Antoine at once swung the bag up on his shoulder and 
started off with it in sullen silence. It is probable that 
he went no further than fairly out of sight, and then emp- 
tying its ill-gotten contents spent the hour of his supposed 
journey in a comfortable nap; but Uncle Lisha's con- 
science was relieved. 
The remainder of the day was spent in idling about 
camp, till at sundown the party repaired to the landing to 
watch for Sam's return. Rowland E. Robinson. 
THE NORTH AMERICAN BEARS. 
In the proceedings of the Biological Society of Wash- 
ington there is published a preliminary synopsis of the 
American bears, a paper read before the society by Dr. 
C. Hart Merriam, whose eminence among the naturalists 
of the world needs no remark. The paper, which takes 
an entirely new view of this group, will be of extreme 
interest to all the hunters of big game in this country and 
in the world. 
As is pretty well known, it has hitherto been the custom 
to classify the bears of North America in three groups — 
the polar bear, which stands by itself, the black bear and 
the grizzly bear. Some years ago Dr. Merriam's atten- 
tion was attracted to remarkable differences in the skulls 
of various bears which were labeled as belonging within 
the same one of these three groups, and on the suggestion 
given by these differences he began the collection of bear 
skulls from all parts of North America. This collection, 
amounting to more than 200 skulls, including about 
thirty-five skulls of the huge bears of the Alaska coast 
region, has convinced him that the classification hitherto 
adopted is inadequate, and has led him to add four 
strongly marked species to our fauna. These new spe- 
cies are, first, the huge fisb-eating bear of Kadiac Island 
and the Alaska Peninsula (Ursus middendorffi, Merriam); 
the large brown bear of Yakutat Bay and the slopes of 
the St. Elias Alps facing the coast (Ursus dalli, Merriam); 
the large brown bear of Sitka and the neighboring 
islands, and possibly of the adjacent mainland as well 
(Ursus sitkensis, Merriam); and the Florida black bear 
(Ursus floridanus, Merriam). 
Dr. Merriam's study of this material has brought to light 
a number of remarkable characters presented by these new 
forms, and has led him to rearrange the bears of North 
America. This he does by classing them in five superspe- I 
cific groups, or types, as follows: 
1. The polar bear type, genus Thalarctos, Gray. 
2. The black bear type, subgenus Euarctos, Gray. 
3. The grizzly bear type, Ursus horribilis and its allies, I 
subgenus Danis, Gray. 
4. The Sitka bear type, Ursus sitkensis, Merriam, and 
Ursus dalli, Merriam. 
5. The Kadiak or Alaska Peninsula bear, Ursus midden- 
dorffi, Merriam. 
These five groups do not all bear the same relations to 
each other. The polar bear (Thalarctos maritimus, Linn.) 
stands by itself as the. type of a genus and has not been 
subdivided. It inhabits the arctic shores and islands of 
both continents. The black bears also stand apart, and 
have characters which Dr. Merriam is inclined to regard 
as of sufficient importance to entitle them to be placed in 
a subgenus by themselves. He says that they must be 
separated into at least four species, which have more or 
less circumscribed geographic ranges. These species are 
(a) the common black bear, Ursus americanus, Pallas; (&) 
the Louisiana bear, Ursus luteolus, Griffith; (c) the Flori- 
da bear, Ursus floridana, Merriam; and (d) the St. Elias 
bear, Ursus emmonsi, Dall. Dr. Merriam thinks that 
some of these may be found to intergradp, and that 
Ursus americanus may be still further subdivided. He 
has not seen Ursus emmonsi, described by Dr. Dall last 
July from skins, and is inclined to regard it as a distinct , 
species. . The bears of the grizzly, Sitka and Kadiak 
types seem to be more nearly related to each other than I 
they do to the polar bear or the black bear type. The 1 
grizzly group includes four more or less well marked ' 
forms: (a) the true grizzly, Ursus Iiorribilis, Ord, from | 
the northern Rocky Mountains; (b) the Sonoran grizzly, 
which Prof. Baird called variety horriceus, which is prob- 
ably only a subspecies; (c) the Norton Sound grizzly 
probably another subspecies: (d) the barren ground bear, 
Ursus richardsoni, Mayne Reid. It is possible that the 
great grizzly bear of Southern California may be sepa- 
rated from the Sonoran form. 
The type represented by the Sitka bear and the Yaku- 
tat bear is very distinct. They are like the grizzlies in 
the flatness of their skulls, but are much larger, different 
in color, have more curved fore claws, and the cutting | 
teeth are different in shape. The Yakutat bear is much 1 
larger than the Sitka bear and has different teeth. 
The Kadiak bear (Ursus middendorffi, Merriam) is the ! 
largest of living bears, and differs markedly from all ' 
other American species. It is similar to the great brown 
bear of Kamchatka (Ursus beringiana, Middendorff), 
which it slightly exceeds in size. 
The present paper recogniz 3s ten full species of North 
American bears; these are the polar b^ar (1), the grizzly 
group (2), the big brown Alaska bears (3) and the black 
bear group (4). 
Besides the fine series of skulls of big bears in the Na- 
tional collection at Washington, and those in Dr. Mer- 
riam's private collection, several well-known sportsmen 
and contributors to Forest and Stream have loaned him 
others for study. Among those who have thus aided 
him are Mr. Archibald Rogers, Hyde Park, N. Y.; Mr. W. 
Hallett Phillips, of Washington, D. C; and Mr. John 
Fannin, Curator of the Provincial Museum, at Victoria, 
B. C. Mr. Chas. H, Townsend and Mr. J. Stanley Brown, 
who are in the employ of the Government, and Mr. Ru- 
dolph Neumann, of the Alaska Commercial Company, 
have also assisted Dr. Merriam in securing material. 
Dr. Merriam explains that the present paper is to be 
regarded only as a preliminary announcement of the re- 
sults of his study, and that it will be followed later by a 
more comprehensive treatise on our bears. This paper is 
based almost wholly on a study of skulls and teeth. Ad- 
ditional material is greatly desired, particularly from 
northern British Columbia and the coast region of Alaska 
south of the Alaska Peninsula. The entire lack of any 
series of skins of bears in any museum in the world 
makes it impossible at the present time to study the ex- 
ternal character of this group, nor can this be done 
without the assistance of collectors in many parts of the 
country. 
The bears present a surprisingly wide range of individ- 
ual variation in the characters of skulls and teeth, and 
the sexual differences are also great, the males being 
much the larger and possessing heavier teeth. The mate- 
rial at Dr. Merriam's disposal has the great advantage of 
containing large series from single localities, and such 
series show, in addition to the variations due to sex and 
age, a large range of individual variation in the size, 
shape and proportion of the cranium and the teeth; but 
they show also, Dr. Merriam tells us, that this variation, 
great as it is, has definite limits, beyond which it does 
not pass, and that excellent and constant characters 
exist by which the several species and subspecies may be 
recognized. 
Although most strongly marked in the grizzlies, sexual 
difference in size is conspicuous in the black bear also. 
In the latter the disproportion is greater in the teeth than 
in the skull, the molar teeth in the female being much 
smaller, narrower and less massive than in the male. 
A list of bears described in this paper, with some few 
remarks on them, is given below: 
Kadiak bear (Ursus middendorffi), new species. This is 
the largest of living bears, being slightly larger than the 
great brown bear of Kamchatka, which is the only one 
with which it needs comparison. It has a higher, more 
swollen forehead, and the zygomatic arches are more 
strongly bowed outward; the claws of the forefeet are 
long and much more strongly curved than those of the 
grizzly. Dr. Merriam has examined sixteen skulls of 
this bear. From Kadiak Island, Alaska. 
Yakutat bear (Ursus dalli), new species. This bear is 
very large, being only a little less in size than the Kadiak 
bear. There are differences in skull and teeth which are 
considerable, and a notion of these differences may be 
had by looking at the figures of the skulls of the two 
species. Dr. Merriam has examined five skulls from 
Yakutat Bay. 
Sitka bear (Ursus sitkensis), new species. In general 
appearance thi3 species resembles the Yakutat bear, but it 
is smaller and there are marked differences in the teeth, 
which in eorne respects show a slight approach to those 
of the black bear. Dr. Merriam has examined seven 
skulls of this form. 
Grizzly bear (Ursus horribilis, Ord). This is the coxnj 
mon form of the Rocky Mountain grizzly. Dr. Merriam 
tells us that specimens from Norton Sound, Alaska, differ 
slightly from those .taken in he Rocky Mountains, and 
