THE BLACK BEAR. 
317 
cooling its heated frame. Its digging capabilities are brought into nse on many occasions, 
such as the demolition of an ants’ nest previous to swallowing the inhabitants, or in scraping 
for itself a comfortable habitation for the winter. 
The number of cubs which the female Bear produces is from one to four, and they are very 
small during the first few days of their existence. They make their appearance at the end of 
January or the beginning of February, and it is a curious fact that, although the mother has 
at the time been deprived of food for nearly three months, and does not take any more food 
until the spring, she is able to afford ample nourishment to her young without suffering any 
apparent diminution in her condition. It is said by those who have had personal experience 
of the habits of the Bear, that the mother takes the greatest care of her offspring during the 
summer, but that when winter approaches, she does not suffer them to partake of her residence, 
but prepares winter-quarters for them in her immediate neighborhood. During the winter 
another little family is born, and when they issue forth from their home they are joined by 
the elder cubs, and the two families pass the next winter in the mother’s den. 
The Syeiah Beae, which is otherwise known by the names of Dtjbb, or Bitck, is doubly 
interesting to us, not only on account of its peculiarly gentle character, but from the fact that 
it is the animal which is so often mentioned in the Scriptural writings under the title of the 
Bear. The animals which are represented as issuing from the wood and avenging the insults 
offered to Elisha, and the Bear which David attacked and killed in defence of his flock, 
belonged to the species which is now known by the name of the Syrian Bear. 
Even at the present day, the precise number of species into which the members of 
the Bear tribe are resolvable is not very satisfactorily ascertained. It seems evident, how- 
ever, that the Bitck, Isabella Bear, or Syrian Bear, may fairly be considered as a separate 
species. 
The color of this animal is rather peculiar, and varies extremely during the different 
periods of its life. While it is in its earliest years, the color of its fur is a grayish-brown, but 
as the animal increases in years, the fur becomes gradually lighter in tint, and when the Bear 
has attained maturity, is nearly white. 
The hair is long and slightly curled, and beneath the longer hair is a thick and warm 
covering of closely-set woolly fur, which seems to defend the animal from the extremes of 
heat or cold. Along the shoulders and front of the neck, the hair is so perpendicularly set, 
and projects so firmly, that it gives the appearance of a mane, somewhat resembling that of 
the hyena. 
At the present day, the Syrian Bear may be found in the mountainous parts of Palestine, 
and has been frequently seen upon the higher Lebanon mountains. The summit of the moun- 
tain itself is composed of two snow-clad peaks, and it is remarkable that the Bear has only 
been found on one of these peaks, u Makmel,” as it is called, while the other — Gebel Sanin — is 
apparently free from these animals. The Bear appears to remain upon the upper portions 
of the mountains during the hours of daylight, but as soon as the evening draws near it 
descends from its rocky fastness in search of food, and often causes considerable alarm to the 
traveller. 
Ameeica furnishes several species of the Bear tribe, two of which, the Grizzly Bear and 
the Musquaw, or Black Beae, are the most conspicuous. 
The Black Bear is found in many parts of Northern America, and was formerly seen in 
great plenty. But as the fur and the fat are articles of great commercial and social value, the 
hunters have exercised their craft with such determination that the Black Bears are sensibly 
diminishing in number. The fur of the Black Bear is not so roughly shaggy as that of the 
European or the Syrian Bear, but is smooth and glossy in its appearance, sq that it presents a 
