428 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
[November, 
[COPYRIGHT SKCURED.] 
GRIZZLY BEAR. SUN-BEAR, OP ASIA. BLACK BEAR. CINNAMON BEAR. 
BEARS AT CENTRAL PARK . —Drawn and Engraved for the American Agriculturist. 
mean.” This brought him back to a teachable mood. He 
was then told that carnivorous animals arc those which 
eat flesh, and differ from those which live upon vegeta¬ 
bles by the form of their teeth, which are of such a shape 
as to cut or grind their food, as may be required. Those 
animals that live entirely upon flesh have teeth that cut 
like shears. A naturalist can tell by looking at the teeth 
of an animal what kind of food he lives upon. Bears 
live upon a mixed diet, and their teeth are less savage 
than those of wolves and tigers. That hard-looking 
word plantigrade means walking upon the sole of the 
foot, which serves to distinguish the bears and raccoons 
from other carnivorous animals, as all the others walk 
upon their toes and fingers only, the heel of the foot not 
touching the ground. There are four if not five different 
kinds of hears found on this continent. The Black Bear 
is the best known, and is found in a wider range of 
country than any other. The Cinnamon Bear, from the 
Itocky Mountains, is so named on account of its color. 
Some think it is only the Black Bear with a brown coat on, 
but others think there are differences besides that of 
color. Then there is the Grizzly of the Plains and Cali¬ 
fornia, the largest, most powerful, and most ferocious of 
all our bears. There are specimens of these three at the 
Park. The Polar Bear is only found within the Arctic 
regions, and is also a formidable animal. 
“ The Black Bear is the most common, and is the most 
frequently seen in captivity. It is found in most parts of 
the country that are well wooded and not very thickly 
settled. They seldom or never attack any one, unless they 
receive the first assault, when they sit up on their haunch¬ 
es, and fight with their fore-legs. If you should ever 
meet with a slie-bear with her young, you had better give 
her a wide berth, as the mother bears are apt to be very 
cross and savage.”_“ What does the bear feed upon ? ” 
“Both animal and vegetable food. It will eat any small 
animals, and to settlers in new countries it is often 
troublesome, by carrying off their calves and pigs. A 
bear will carry off in his arms a pig nearly as large as 
himself. Acorns and other nuts furnish a considerable 
share of the bear’s food, and ho is very fond of huckle¬ 
berries, raspberries, and other wild fruits. lie often 
makes forays upon cultivated fields, and shows a great 
fondness for roasting ears of corn and sweet apples. 
Bears, like boys, have what is called a “ sweet-tooth,” 
and are particularly fond of honey. They will rob hives 
whenever they can get a chance, and are great bee- 
hunters. When they find a bee-tree—which you know is 
a tree in which bees have found a hollow and there made 
a home—they climb the tree, and gnaw at the hole until 
they get at the honey. Gf course the bees defend their 
stores, but the bear is so fond of honey that he is willing 
to endure their stings, so he gnaws away and growls. It 
might be some consolation to the bees, if they only knew 
it, that the constant growling kept up by the bear, on ac¬ 
count of their stings, often attracts the attention of the 
hunter and guides him to the spot.” 
“ Do bears live in winter by sucking their paws ? ” 
“ It is, or used to be, a popular notion that bears passed 
the winter in sucking their paws. Nothing could be 
more absurd. Like many other animals, the bear hiber¬ 
nates — that is, passes the winter in a quiet and dormant 
state. The bear finds a hollow tree, or a den among 
rocks, or, failing these, it scoops out a hole in the earth. 
During the autumn nuts of all kinds are abundant, and 
at this season the bear gets very fat. When cold weather 
comes on, he retires to his den, where he remains per¬ 
fectly quiet, and to shield his nose from the frost puts his 
paws over it, which has given rise to the notion that he 
sucks his paws. He is supported by the fat stored up 
in the fall, but he does not get it through the paw’s.” 
“ How do they catch bears, uncle ? ” 
“ They are sometimes shot, but as the skin, which is 
of considerable value, is likely to be injured in this way, 
they are usually taken in a trap of some kind. What is 
called a dead-fall is built of logs, and so arranged that 
when the bear disturbs the bait a mass of heavy logs 
falls upon and crushes him. The regular trappers, how¬ 
ever, use a steel trap, made like those used to catch rats, 
only many times larger. Bears, if taken young, are 
readily domesticated, and are easily taught to do amusing 
tricks. I once saw one at a public garden near New 
York that was very fond of soda-water; he would open 
a bottle, and drink it with the greatest relish. It made 
a good sale for soda-water, as a large number would pur¬ 
chase bottles for the sake of seeing the bear open them.” 
“ But, uncle, tell us something of the wild bears you 
must have met with in your wanderings.” 
“I can not; for in truth, though I was three years in a 
famous bear country, I never saw but one bear. I gave 
chase to him, but he was going down a rocky hill, and 
could travel much faster than my horse. I have lived 
upon bear’s meat by the week, and have happened along 
just as several recently killed grizzly and other bears 
were being skinned, but it so befell thatlnever saw a live 
wild grizzly, though I have helped cat more than a dozen.” 
