BEAR. 
titles up *, beat the peafe out of the hulks on feme 
hard place, eat them, and carry off the ftraw : they 
will alfo, during winter, break into the farmer's yard, 
and make great havokc among his fcock of oats: 
are particularly fond of honey. The bears of Ame¬ 
rica are fmall and black *, and confine themfelves en¬ 
tirely to vegetables, and are remarkably greedy of 
Mayz and ' Potatoes \ they will even reject animal 
food, tho 3 preifed by hunger *: neither of thefe va¬ 
rieties will attack mankind, unlefs wounded, or 
when they have their young: they ftrike with their 
fore feet like a cat; feldom or ever ufe their mouths 
in fighting, but feizirig the affailant with their paws, 
and prdfing him againft their breaft, almoft inftant- 
ly fqueeze him to death. 
The females after conception retire into the moft 
fecret places y leaf:, when they bring forth, the 
males fhould devour the young: it is affirmed for 
fa6t, that out of the feveral hundred bears that are 
killed in America , during winter, (which is their 
breeding feafon) that fcarce a female is found among 
f them ; fo impenetrable is their retreat during their 
pregnancy : they bring two, rarely three young at 
a time : the cubs are deformed, but not a fliape- 
lefs mafs, to be licked into ffiape, as the antients 
pretended J. The flefh of a bear in autumn, when 
they are moft exceffively fat, by feeding on acorns, 
0 
* Dii Pratz Louijiana . II. 56. 57. 
. f Out of 500 Bears that were killed in one winter, in two coun¬ 
ties of Virginia, only two females were found, and thofe not preg¬ 
nant, La-ivfon, 117. 
X Hi funt Candida informifque caro , faulo muribus major , fine oculis , 
fine pilo; ungues tantimi prominent: banc lambendo faulaiim figurant . 
Plinii, lib. viii. c. 36. 
and 
j 9 r 
