406 
AMERICAN BEAR. 
migrating occasionally, southwards in quest of its 
food, which' is said to 'be entirely vegetable; or 
sometimes, when pressed by excessive hunger, fish* 
and particularly herrings. 
These bears arrive in Louisiana, driven thither 
by the snows in the more northern climates, to 
wards the end of autumn. At this time they are 
always very lean ; as they do not leave the north 
till the earth is covered with snow, when their 
subsistence of course becomes very scanty. 
In the country near the Mississippi, they- seldom 
venture to any great distance from the banks of 
that river ; but on each side have in winter such 
beaten paths, that persons unacquainted with them, 
would mistake them for the tracks of men. J)n 
Prats says. he was once, though at a distance of 
nearly two hundred miles from any human dwelling, 
for a while deceived by one of them, which appear- 
ed as though thousands of men had been walking 
along it bare footed. Upon inspection, however, 
be found that the prints of the feet were shorter 
than those of a man, and that at the end of each toe 
there was the impression of a claw. It is pro- 
per/' he says f<r to observe, that in those paths the 
bear does not pique himself upon politeness, and 
will yield the way to nobody ; therefore, it is pru- 
dent for a traveller not to fall out with him for 
such a trifling affair." 
About the end of December, from the abun- 
dance of fruits they find in Louisiana and the 
neighbouring countries, the bears become so fat 
and lazy, that they can scarcely run. At this time, 
when the animals are also in a condition to furnish 
a large quantity of oil, they are bunted by the 
American Indians. The nature of the chase is 
generally this : the bear chiefly adopts for his re- 
treat the hollow trunk of an old cypress, which he 
climbs.* and then descends into the cavity from 
