The many species of bears are among the most familiar of animals. However, even in this well-known category, one, the American Black Bear, stands out to Americans as representative of his family.
The American Black Bear is a well-marked species, differing from the brown bear much more decidedly than does the grizzly. It is a smaller animal than the brown bear, from which it differs by the proportionately smaller head, the sharper muzzle, and more regularly convex profile of the face. In length this bear seldom exceeds 5 feet. As with other bears, the male of this species is much larger than the female.
Its food consists of mice, small mammals, turtles, frogs, and fish, and also, and largely, of ants and their eggs, bees and their honey, cherries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, and various other fruits, vegetables and roots.
The black bear sometimes makes raids upon the barn-yard, slaying and devouring sheep, calves, pigs, and poultry. The formation of his powerful jaws and canine teeth are well adapted to seize and hold its prey, and his molars are strong enough to crush the bones of an ox. His great strength, however, lies in his fore-arms and paws. His mode of attacking his prey is not to seize it with his teeth, but to strike terrific blows with his fore-paws. His weakness is for pork, and to obtain it he will run any risk. When the farmers, after suffering severe losses, become unusually alert, he retires to the depths of the forest and solaces himself with a young moose, caribou, or deer. He seldom or never attacks a full-grown moose. They are good climbers, but, from their weight, are unable to ascend to the tree tops or climb far out on the branches, although they will ascend straight stems for a considerable height after honey. They are also excellent swimmers, many being killed while swimming in the lakes.
As a rule, the black bear hibernates, although its torpor is not deep, and the time of entering upon the winter repose depends upon the severity of the season, and the amount of food-supply. And it appears that the males will remain active in any weather, so long as they can find an abundance of food. The female is, however, compelled to seek shelter sooner on account of her prospective family. The winter den of a black bear is generally a partial excavation under the upturned roots of a fallen tree, or beneath a pile of logs, with perhaps a few bushes and leaves scraped together by way of a bed, while to the first snowstorm is left the task of completing the roof and filling the remaining chinks. Not infrequently the den is a great hole or cave dug into the side of a knoll, and generally under some standing tree, whose roots serve as side-posts to the entrance. The amount of labor bestowed upon it depends upon the length of time the bear expects to hibernate. If the prospects point towards a severe winter, and there is a scarcity of food, they "den" early, and take pains to make a comfortable nest; but when they stay out late, and then "den" in a hurry, they do not take the trouble to fix up their nests at all. At such times they simply crawl into any convenient shelter without gathering so much as a branch of moss to soften their bed. Snow completes the covering, and as their breath condenses and freezes it an icy wall begins to form, and increases in thickness and extent day by day till they are soon unable to escape, even if they would, and are obliged to remain in this icy cell till liberated by the sun in April or May.
The young are born about January or February, and are usually two or three in number, although four have been found in a litter. It is believed that the female does not give birth to young oftener than every alternate year.
The black bear was pursued by the early colonists of North America by "still-hunting", or what would be called in England stalking; and it appears that this requires much more care than in the case with other bears, since the American black bear is very acute of hearing. A favorite expedient was to watch a herd of pigs in the cultivated districts, upon which the bears would make a raid, and could be shot with ease.
