484 
■I I in - ■iiTiTiii-rrrirrr-nrir-n-rrrt iTirr rlf- - 
half hour with Curator Beebe at the New York Zoologi- 
cal Park, August 26, inspecting some baby terns and gulls 
just received from Cobbs Island, Virginia. There was 
one baby gulf gull (skimmer) whose hold on life ap- 
peared to be very slight. Our beautiful terns have been 
so ruthlessly slaughtered by the plume hunters as to have 
almost disappeared in some sections of our Virginia coast 
waters. But there is Iiope at last a remnant may survive 
to gladden the hearts and charm the eyes of future gen- 
erations,_ thanks to the efforts of William Dutcher, Audu- 
bon Societies, et al. 
Have you ever risen before the sun on some crisp Octo- 
ber morning and seen the migrating hosts of robins, far, 
far in the clear blue sk}'^, mere specks, till suddenly every 
tiny red breast is touched by a sun-ray and glistens 
faintly, though clearly, as a spark flares up? Have you 
heard the far away fseep! t'seep! of their happy voices? 
It is a fairyland effect, and only seen in these golden 
autumn days, when the redbreasts flpat away south on 
the Air Line. Wilmot Townsend. 
The Adirondack Black Bear* 
By George Chahoon, in Report of the New York Forest, Fish 
and Game Commission. 
It is probable that the black bear, Ursus americanus, 
is the only species ever found in the State of New 
York. They were once common throughout the State, 
but their habitat is now restricted to the Adirondacks 
and the Catskills. Grown bears of this species vary in 
weigJit from 150 to 400 pounds; but the young are sur- 
prisingly sinall. Merriam, in his "Mammals of the 
Adirondacks," says: "The diminutive size, premature 
appearance and helpless condition of the young of this 
species at birth cannot fail to excite surprise. They 
are not six inches in length, weigh less than a pound, 
and are not yet covered with hair. Their eyes do not 
open for more than a month. I know of no other 
mammal, except among the marsupials, whose young 
are so disproportionately small, or are born in such 
an undeveloped condition." 
Although the white man kills the bear without any 
remorse of conscience, the Indians had such respect for 
his intellect and cunning that they endeavored to ap- 
pease his departed spirit with various time honored 
ceremonies, in which an orator extolled his courage, 
regretted the necessity of his killing, and paid a tribute 
to the valor of the surviving members of his family. 
In comparatively recent years there were a good 
many of the larger game animals in the Adirondack 
forests — of which the moose, the panther and the wolf 
have become practical!}'- extinct. Excepting the . re- 
cent importations for restocking there is now no wild 
moose in the North Woods. It has been years since 
I have known a well-authenticated story of a wolf; and 
wMe it is possible the panther is not entirely extinct, 
if he still exists his numbers are few and his end near. 
Practically speaking, of the larger mammals in our 
forest the red deer and the black bear alone remain. 
There seems to be a law, higher even than an act of the 
New York Legislature, that the wild beast must dis- 
appear before the advance of civilization; and while the 
development of the Adirondacks by the railroad, the 
summer hotel, and the pulp mill has added many to our 
school houses and churches, it has done much toward 
the destruction of our wild animals. Modern science 
tells us that all life is dependent upon its environment, 
and the repeating rifie loaded with smokeless powder 
does not make a favorable environment for large game. 
Deer are quite plentiful, but in some respects the 
bear seems to have withstood the hand of tnan more 
successfully than the deer. Much has been done by 
our lawmakers to protect the deer, and the sentiment of 
man is against his destruction; but the bear has no 
man for his friend. No legislature has ever put any re- 
striction upon his murder, while in some countries he 
is regarded as an outlaw and a reward is placed upon 
his head. Many thousands of dollars have been paid as 
bounties for his extermination; still he survives, and 
occasionally takes a sheep or a calf from some moun- 
tain farmer as a forced restitution for the wrongs in- 
flicted on his race. 
People who know the bear only in captivity do not 
understand him in his wild state. This sluggish, awk- 
ward animal will lead a dog in a wild chase over the 
highest peaks and most inaccessible places in our moun- 
tains, and when finally overtaken will turn upon his 
pursuers and, with one stroke of his powerful arm, send 
any dog within his reach howling away or lying bleed- 
ing and dying at his feet. 
The wild bear is not only fleet of foot, but has great 
sagacity, is very alert and is seldom overcome in a 
fair field, even by our most experienced woodsmen. 
When taken in the summer or autumn he usually falls 
a victim to the large steel trap set cunningly by man 
for his undoing. Some close observer of human nature 
says "Cupid catches more with traps than he kills with 
arrows." I am not an expert on this subject; but to 
the bear I am sure the trap is more fatal than the rifle. 
During the summer and fall they eat enormously and 
take on a great deal of fat; and when the cold weather 
comes they crawl into holes or caves, roll themselves 
up and lie dormant until the warm winds of spring carry 
away the snows. During this time a curious phe- 
nomenon takes place in the animal's digestive organs, 
which gives it the capacity of remaining through the 
entire winter in a state of lethargy without food while 
slowly consuming the surplus fat acquired in the 
autumn. As the stomach is no longer supplied with 
food it soon becomes quite empty, and, together with 
the intestines, is contracted into a very small space. 
No food can now pass through the system, for a 
mechanical obstruction, technically called the "tappen," 
blocks up the passage and remains in its position all 
winter. The "tappen" is composed of leaves and other 
woody substances. This habit of hibernation is a great 
protection, for if the bear roamed around all winter 
he would be easily tracked and overtaken in the deep 
snows; but once in his den, which is usually in some al- 
most inaccessible mountain, it is nearly impossible to 
find him, and the drifting snows soon cover the en- 
trance to his hiding place. 
Like our National Weather Bureau, the bear some- 
fOREST AtHli STREAM. 
times makes a mistake about the stdrtn^l a«d pccasion- 
ally snow falls before he retires for the wiriler, in 
which event he usually begins at omie to hunt liis hole. 
This is unfortunate for him; for wherMr-tT an early 
snow comes every bear hunter LaV rifle and 
tramps through the rough mountam? ' for tracks, 
which if he finds he follows to th-r- dfifi there is 
frequently a family of mother and cubs, in their 
semi-torpid condition, are easily killed. 
The early snows and the large steel traps are the 
means of getting most of the bears killed in the Adi- 
rondacks. Occasionally a bear passing a runway where 
a man is watching for a deer gets killed. Sometimes a 
man comes upon one while still-hunting, and gets near 
enough for a successful shot; but instances of this kind 
are rare. 
The bear is an omnivorous eater. I have seen his 
marks along streams where he had been looking for 
fish. He is known to rob bees' nests for honey; but 
in the summer and fall he lives largely upon berries and 
fruits of forest trees — acorns and beech nuts — and when 
wild cherries are ripe one frequently finds small trees 
and limbs he has broken down for the fruit. He has 
a great liking for ants, and in places where he is com- 
mon, many of the half rotten stumps and old logs have 
been pulled apart by him while looking for ants and 
their eggs. This work can be easily determined, for 
his strong, sharp claws leave clearly marked scratches. 
They have a habit of biting and scratching the trunks 
of living trees for no reason I know; and it is not un- 
common to find trees marked with the imprint of their 
teeth and claws. 
Bears do not like to come into even as much of an 
opening as a mountain s'heep range, and consequently 
they destroy but few domestic animals; but I have seen 
the remains of several sheep killed by them. It seems 
to be the general opinion of people who live in the Adi- 
rondacks that when a bear kills a sheep he eats all he 
can and returns in a night or two for another good 
meal on the remains. I have known of three instances 
where steel traps and strychnine have been cunningly 
prepared for his expected return, but he did not come 
back in either case. 
The bear is hunted largely for sport. He is classed 
as "big game," and most hunters like to be the hero 
of a bear story. In addition to this his hide makes a 
fine rug, or it will fetch a good price from the fur 
dealer; his meat is eaten, but to my taste it is too fat 
to be coveted; and there is still another incentive for 
killing in the counties where bounties are paid. 
The bear is far more sagacious and alert than the 
deer, and if he had the same protection he would rapidly 
increase. His destruction of domestic animals is 
trifling, and if his trapping were prohibited and the 
bounty on his killing removed, we might safely rely on 
the hunters' love of sport to prevent his becoming so 
numerous and bold as to be a cause of any real annoy- 
ance to our farmers. If instead of the bounty on his 
death the farmers were paid by the county for the sheep 
he destroyed, a more equitable arrangement would be 
made at a small percentage of cost to the taxpayer. 
This fall (1902) Essex county paid $280 for the killing 
of 28 bears, and I very much doubt the killing of one 
sheep in this county by bears during the past year. 
As illustrating the endurance and tenacity of life of 
the_ black bear, I will mention an incident in the ex- 
perience of one of the most successful hunters ever in 
the Adirondacks. Some years ago Mr. George A. Stev- 
ens, of Lake Placid, found a bear track in an early 
snow, near his home, and taking his friend, Mr. Frank 
B, Stickney, after supplying themselves with their rifles 
and a knapsack of food, they followed the track over 
the rough mountains and through the thick swamps un- 
til dark overtook them, when they camped in the snow 
beside the track to renew the chase at daylight. Dur- 
ing the following day Mr. Stevens had two shots, one 
breaking the lower jaw, the other passing through the 
animal's kidneys. The next or third day the snow 
melted so the track could be followed no longer, and 
after over forty miles of hard travel the chase was re- 
luctantly abandoned. The following spring Mr. Charles 
Martin, of Saranac Lake, killed the bear swimming the 
lake, where Mr. Stevens Avent to see and identify it. 
The animal was reduced almost to skin and bones. 
In the Southern States the black bear is hunted with 
dogs, who chase, bark at him, and bite his hind legs, 
and, being more spry of foot than he, manage to avoid 
the stroke of his paws. This torment is kept up until 
the bear in his desperation and desire to escape his 
tormentors climbs a tree, where the dogs bark and 
keep his attention until the hunter comes up and shoots 
him. I have never known bears successfully hunted 
with dogs in the Adirondacks, and I have never known 
them to climb trees to escape their pursuers, nor have 
I known dogs to follow them successfully; they either 
lead over some cliff where dogs cannot follow, or they 
successfully turn and drive them off. 
The bear is a good swimmer, and does not hesitate 
to cross a lake several miles wide when it lies in his 
course. 
It is probable that the habit of hibernating is under- 
going a change among these animals in the Adiron- 
dacks. When I began to take an interest in this spe- 
cies, hunters used to tell me that the practice of 
"holing" during the winter was far from universal; that 
it was common to find bear tracks in the woods during 
the whole winter; and that they were frequently fol- 
lowed on snowshoes and killed. Merriam, ' in his 
"Mammals of the Adirondacks," says that bears fre- 
quently roam around all winter, or only retire for a 
short time when food fails, this being particularly true 
of the old males. It has been many years since I have 
seen a bear track after the cold weather really began; 
and hunters and men who spend a great deal of time 
in_ the woods tell me they never see bear tracks in the 
winter. My experience has been limited entirely to 
Clinton, Essex and part of Franklin counties, and it is 
possible^ the hibernating habit may differ as we get 
farther into the woods, where the bears have not been 
compelled to contend with man for so long a time, or 
as severely as has been the case in the territory covered 
by my observation. 
Under the now accepted theory of "the survival of 
the fittest" we must expect changes tending to the 
preservation of tlie animal; and while these changes are 
generally slow, they are sometimes quite rapid. Since 
I can remember, the partridge around Ausable Forks 
has largely changed his habit of alighting in a near-by 
tree when flushed; and it is certain that the chimney 
swallow did not build its nest in chimneys until the 
Europeans erected houses with these suitable nesting 
places. I know several instances were birds have 
changed their habits, and it would not be strange if so 
intelligent an animal as the bear found it safer to den 
than to be out_ during times of deep snows. Really, a 
change of habit requires no particular intelligence on 
the part of the animal. We have only to assume witli 
Darwin "that there is a tendency on the part of the 
offspring to inherit the peculiarities of the parent." 
Under this theory the bears that stay out are killed, 
while the ones that hole are left to become the parents 
of the next generation. In this way a tendency that 
proves protective is soon developed into an in.stinct 
that becomes universal. 
Bears ai-e great travelers. During the autumn they 
roam over large tracts of country, and are frequently 
seen and sometimes killed when on these expeditions. 
The family to which the following incident refers were 
evidently on such a trip. On Sept. 9, 1899, Mrs. Cha- 
hoon and I went for a little drive, hoping to get a 
couple of partridges ere returning. We left our home 
in Ausable Forks in a single carriage, taking with us 
our little bird dog Bounce, and a r2-gauge shotgun. 
While going through a swamp near the Middle Kilns 
on the road to Saranac Lake, Mrs. Chahoon driving 
and I holding the gun cocked and ready for a quick 
shot at a bird, about thirty yards in front of us four 
bears came into the road, looked at us for an instant 
and then ran on ahead. Bounce, the dog, gave chase 
and was close to the bears as they turned to enter the 
woods on the opposite side of the road. This was fun 
for Bounce, and we sat laiighing at his audacity, when 
soon we saw a procession of dog and bears coming 
toward us, the dog leading and the larger, older bear 
in close pursuit and clearly shortening the distance be- 
tween them as they neared us. Don, our horse, not 
liking this style of a hunt, started to go home back- 
ward; but fortunately did not succeed in overturning 
us, only so placed the carriage as to give the dog and 
bears a_ narrow passage as they ran by. The dog had 
about six feet of lead, and as they passed I fired both 
barrels of No. 8 bird shot into the first bear at a range 
of about ten feet. She showed no evidence of having 
been hit, and kept on her chase for some twenty yards, 
when she turned into the woods, the other three bears 
taking to the woods when opposite our carriage. The 
dog quickly turned and followed them, and when about 
thirty yards from the road he stopped and began to 
bark furiously. I jumped from the carriage and started 
to go to the dog, and when nearly to him Mrs. Cha- 
hoon called excitedly for me to cotne to her. On get- 
ting back I found that another very large bear had 
come into the road and stood on his hind legs in front 
of the horse, vvhile the horse rose on his hind legs and 
looked at bruin. As soon as our horse was quiet 
enough to be hitched, Mrs. Chahoon and I went to the 
dog, which was still barking at the bear, where it had 
fallen. 
We tried to drag it to the road; but 200 pounds was 
more than our hands alone could manage. While thus en- 
gaged Mr. Edmund Roberts came along with the stage, 
and with his help the dead captive was put into his 
wagon and carried back to our home, where its hide 
now makes a fine rug on our floor. The ground where 
the bear was shot showed no blood or other evidence 
of the animal having been hit. Both charges struck 
near the shoulder and were driven downward, and part 
of them went entirely through the body. The shot was 
not bunched, but had separated so as to form a pattern 
resembling the top of a large pepper box. There was 
nothing to indicate a struggle, and doubtless she fell 
perfectly dead where she lay wlien we reached her. In 
all she must have run 50 or 60 yards with her heart 
riddled with shot. 
It would be interesting if some fairly correct esti- 
mate could be made of the number of black bears now 
in the State. Realizing that any man's guess would be 
of little value, and with the knowledge that my data is 
far from exhaustive, I mention the following in the 
hope that it may prove something better than a mere 
guess. 
The year 1894 was the last one in which the State 
paid bounties on bears, and that year we paid for the 
killing of 359 in the Adirondacks. With not very full 
data for a guide, and the record complete in only a few 
counties, I atn of the opinion that the year 1894 ™ay be 
taken as a fair average. 
If bears have young every two years, and have two or 
three at a time, and half of them are females, with any 
reasonable allowance for deaths, other than by man, it 
would require a thousand mature individuals to sustain 
this annual loss of 359 without extermination; and I 
believe it is safe to assume there are more than 1,000 
in the Adirondacks, as a large allowance should be 
made for loss and failure of young. The same rule 
would make the number in the Catskills about 500. 
Michigan Owiithological Cltib Meetings. 
The Michigan Ornithological Club held the last meet- 
ing of the year at the Museum of Art, Detroit, Decem- 
ber 4. The_ largest attendance of the year was present, 
and a very interesting programme was rendered. Presi- 
dent Covert presided. The first paper was entitled "Notes 
on the Family Motacilla," by the veteran ornithologist, 
Jerome Trombley, of Petersburg, Mich. In the absence 
of the author, the paper was read by Mr. Blain, and a 
full account of the various species as observed in Monroe 
county was given. Mr. Norman A. Wood, of Ann Arbor, 
spoke at lengtli on his recent finding of the first nests of 
the Kirtland's warbler in Oscoda county, Mich. Re- 
marks fcllowed by Messrs. Covert, Arnold, and J. Claire 
Wood. Prof. A. H. Griffith spoke on "Birds in Their 
Relation to Art," which subject was covered in an ex- 
tremely interesting manner. From the very earliest 
period birds have occupied an important position in art 
subjects, especially among the Norsemen, Chinese, and 
Japanese. "The nesting of the Sandhill Crane in Michi- 
