286 
THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 
at lengthy after much struggling, managed to kill the beast 
with a stout club, which he providentially met with. 
C. — The flesh of the bear is eaten, I believe ? 
F, — - Yes : the hams, in particular, are much esteemed ; 
a large bear will weigh five hundred pounds, and some have 
been found of even greater weight. Their skins are thick 
and warm ; and, dressed with the hair on, are much in re- 
quest for lining sleighs, as buffalo robes. 
C. — Does our bear feed on flesh ? 
F. — Not wholly ; indeed it appears to be less carni- 
vorous than the Ursus Arctos of northern Europe, and less 
ferocious. His chief food seems to be of a vegetable nature, 
grain, fruits, and roots. He has an appetite for pork, how- 
ever, and occasionally makes a visit to the farmer's hog- sty 
for the purpose of cultivating an acquaintance with the 
grunting inhabitants. Some years ago, one of our nearest 
neighbours was aroused in the night by a commotion in his 
hog-pen ; suspecting the cause, he jumped up immediately, 
took his gun, and saw a bear in the act of getting over the 
fence with a fine hog, embraced very lovingly in his fore- 
paws. The man fired (while his wife held a light), and 
killed the intruder. It is difficult to hurt a bear with any 
weapon but fire-arms ; he fights with his fore-paws like a 
cat ; and so watchful is he, and so expert at warding ofl" 
every blow that is made at him, that it is next to impossible 
to strike his head, the only part in which he is vulnerable ; 
for you might almost as well batter a feather-bed as the 
body of a bear, so encased and shielded by an enormous 
layer of fat. In our climate, he becomes torpid during 
winter, generally choosing for his hybernaculum, some large 
hollow log, or a cavity beneath the root of an overthrown 
tree. The species is numerous in all the wooded parts of 
this continent, even to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. 
In the southern states, he commits depredations on the 
