400 
THE BEAK. 
his winter very comfortably. In this state, 
many hundreds are destroyed every winter 
for the sake of the fur, which is much valued 
for military decorations, while the flesh 
forms an agreeable article of food. The fat 
is remarkably greasy and penetrating, and 
is said (with what truth I know not) to be 
very nourishing to the hair. The yellow 
bear of Carolina is a variety of this species, 
and is said to possess more intelligence than 
his black cousin. Colonel Smith at one 
time had one of each in his possession, and 
says of them, ‘While the black bear lay 
down in perfect apathy, and our attention 
was directed to another object, a familiar 
breathing over our shoulder made us fancy 
some unceremonious intruder was looking 
over our work; and, upon turning round, we 
perceived it W'as the yellow bear, carefully 
raised upon his hind-feet, not touching our 
clothes with his fore-paws, hut having his 
snout over our shoulder and curiously in¬ 
tent upon what was doing upon the paper.’ ” 
“ I suppose he felt a natural interest in 
seeing whether his portrait was like him,” 
observed Bichard. 
“Many tame animals are very curious 
