THE GRIZZLY AND BLACK BEAR 
the high branches of oaks for the acorns and mountain ash for the ripe 
red berries. They not only feed up in the trees, but tear down and break 
quite large branches, which fall to the earth laden with fruit. So the black 
bear goes on in one perpetual feast till he is clothed with four inches of 
fat and his coat is soft and thick, and then increasing snow squalls and a 
falling off in the commissariat warn him that it is time to lie up for the 
winter. 
Just before he holes up, the black bear, when he finds food becoming 
scarce, will break into sheep and pig pens and kill stock, and Mr Thompson - 
Seton relates an instance of cannibalism on the authority of George Cran- 
ford, the half-breed hunter of Mattawa. This shows that the black bear 
will also do the same thing as the grizzly in hard times. Females are said 
to den before the males, and when the woods are deeply clothed with heavy 
snow no black bear tracks are to be found. The retreat is often in the hollow 
of an old pine, or in and under a large rock. Here the bear prepares a warm 
couch of moss and closes the entrance before going to sleep nowadays. 
Few men, I think, share the opinion of the ancients on the subject of 
bear flesh. Doubtless, a young bear fed on leaves and berries is just palat- 
able, but after a diet of fish an adult black bear is oily and disagreeable, 
whilst the flesh of a grizzly which I tried to eat was revolting and scarcely 
better than an old cormorant. Even dogs will hardly eat some bear flesh. 
As to the fierceness of the animal, all competent authorities are now 
agreed that it is practically non-existent. I have met three Indians, one 
in Newfoundland and two in Cassiar, that had all been somewhat badly 
mauled, but in each case the men admitted that the accidents were entirely 
due to their own carelessness. 
Reuben Lewis, the head chief of the Newfoundland Micmacs, shot at and 
wounded a large male black bear near Burnt Hill, Gander River, a few 
years ago. After tracking it a short distance he came on the bear lying 
down with its paws embracing its head. He walked up to the beast with 
an unloaded rifle and gave it a kick to see if it was dead. The bear at once 
sprang up and seized him by the leg, at the same time throwing him to 
the ground and flinging his rifle to a distance. By chance only Stephen 
Jeddore, another Indian, was close at hand, and came to Reuben’s assis- 
tance, when, after some trouble, he got a clear shot and finished the bear. 
Reuben was very badly bitten in both legs and it was several months 
before he recovered. He will bear the marks of the struggle for life. Two 
Thaltan Indians, mauled by black bears, in both cases shot at bears running 
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