Several species of the bear tribe inhabit America; the two most numerous
of which are the black bear, or musquaw, and the far-famed ferocious
grizzly bear of the Rocky Mountains. The black bear is found generally
among the forests and plains of the east, though the grizzly also
descends from his mountain fastnesses, and makes his way through the low
country to a considerable distance from his usual abode. Although the
black bear has not obtained the same character for fierceness as his
grizzly relative, he often proves a formidable opponent when attacked by
human foes, and is also dreaded on account of his depredations among
their flocks and herds. He is, indeed, a monstrous and powerful animal,
often reaching six feet in length from the muzzle to the tail--the tail
being only about two inches long--while he stands from three to three
and a half feet in height at the shoulder. He is covered with a smooth
and glossy coat of thick hair, without any wool at the base. He does
not always wear a black suit; sometimes he puts on a brown one. When
his coat is perfectly black, he has a cinnamon patch on his muzzle. He
varies, too, in shape. Occasionally he is long and low, at others his
body is short,--and he has great length of limb. Under ordinary
circumstances, he restricts himself to a vegetable diet, but is very
fond of a small species of snail which feeds on the prairie grass; and,
like others of his relatives, he is greatly addicted to honey. As his
feet are furnished with strong sharp claws, he is able to make his way
up the trunks of trees to reach his favourite food. In this object he
displays great perseverance and acuteness. However high up it may be,
or in positions most difficult of access, he will manage to reach the
combs containing the sweet repast. Should the comb be hidden away in
the hollow of some aged tree, with an entrance too small for admitting
his huge paw, he sets to work with his teeth, and gnaws away the wood
till he has formed a breach of sufficient size to allow him to put it
in. He is utterly regardless of the assaults of the tiny inhabitants of
the comb; and scooping out their honey and young together with his
fore-paws, devours the whole mass. He will sometimes, when pressed by
hunger, break into the settler's barn and carry off sheep, pigs, and
small cattle into the neighbouring woods; and so cunning is he, that it
is not often he is overtaken, or entrapped in the snare laid for his
capture.
The Indians of Nova Scotia call him Mooin, which reminds us of Bruin.
The Indians throughout the country pay great respect to the bear,
having, like the Esquimaux, a high opinion of his intellectual powers,
and believing that he is in some way related to them, and possessed of
an almost human spirit. Still, they do not scruple to kill him; but as
soon as the breath is out of his body, they cut off his head, which they
place ceremoniously within a mat decorated with a variety of ornaments.
They then blow tobacco-smoke into the nostrils, and the chief hunter,
praising his courage, and paying a variety of compliments to his
surviving relatives, expresses regret at having been compelled to
deprive him of life, and his hope that his own conduct has been
altogether satisfactory to Mr Mooin, and worthy of the renown they have
both attained.
The musquaw hibernates, like other bears of northern regions, and is
very particular in selecting a dry cave for his long winter's nap. At
the "fall," he is especially fat, having lived for some time on the
beech-mast, blue-berries, and other fruits which grow in great profusion
in the forest. He then weighs 500 pounds, and even 600 pounds. The
chief part of the fat lies along the back, and on either side, as in the
flitch of the hog. There is no doubt that it is by the absorption of
this fat throughout his winter fast of four months that he is enabled to
exist--at this time evaporation being at a stand-still. Having at
length selected a cavern, or the hollow of a decayed tree, for his lair,
he scrapes out all the dead leaves, till the ground is perfectly clean
and smooth. It must be deep enough to prevent the snow from drifting
into it, and free from any water trickling down from above. He objects
especially to a habitation which has been occupied by the porcupine,
that animal being far from cleanly in its habits. Perhaps also he has
an objection to the quills with which the creature is furnished, from
their being likely to produce disagreeable wounds. He forgets, perhaps,
that the rubbish he has scraped out will betray his abode to the
hunter--which it assuredly does. The Indian, on discovering this
indubitable sign of Mooin's abode, takes steps to arouse him and plant a
bullet in his head, or to batter out his brains with his axe. Mooin,
however, in spite of his usual sagacity, ignorant that his abode may be
discovered, perhaps already overcome with a strange desire to sleep,
crawls in for his winter's snooze. He is frequently accompanied by a
partner, who will add to his warmth and comfort. He there lies down
with his fore-paws curled round his head and nose, which he pokes
underneath his chest. Here he remains asleep till the warm sun of March
or April tempts him to crawl out in search of food to replenish his
empty stomach and strengthen his weakened frame. Madam Mooin is
generally, at this time, employed in the pleasing office of increasing
her family. Her young cubs, when born, are curiously small, helpless
little beings, not larger than rats. Generally there are two of them,
and they are born about the middle of February. She manages to nourish
them without taking any food herself till March or April, when she also,
like her better half, sallies forth in search of provender. The young
creatures grow but slowly, and do not attain their full size till they
are about four years old. Even when about a couple of months old, the
little cubs are not much larger than a retriever puppy of the same age.
The musquaw finds great difficulty at first in satisfying the cravings
of his appetite. He searches for the cranberries in the open bogs, and
is driven even to eat the rank marshy grass. As the snow disappears, he
seeks for wood-lice and other creatures in rotten trunks. Hungry as he
is, he labours very patiently for his food. The prehensile form of his
lips enables him to pick up with wonderful dexterity even the smallest
insect or berry. As the ice breaks up in the lakes, he proceeds thither
to fish for smelts and other small fish, which he catches with wonderful
dexterity with his paws, throwing them out rapidly behind him. When,
however, pressed by hunger, and unable to obtain the smaller creatures
for food, he will attack young deer if he can take them by surprise; but
as he can seldom do this, he is often tempted into the neighbourhood of
settlements. Here he lies in wait for the cattle as they wander through
the woods to their spring pastures; and when once he has taken to this
dangerous proceeding, he is said to continue it. On catching sight of a
herd, should it not be accompanied by a human being, he drives the
animals into some boggy swamp, and there singling out a victim, he jumps
on its back, and deals it a few tremendous blows across the head and
shoulders, till the poor animal becomes an easy prey. He then drags it
off into the neighbouring wood, and devours it at his leisure. This
habit is often the cause of his destruction. On any remainder of the
animal being found, the aggrieved settler sets off, rifle in hand and
axe in his belt, to punish the aggressor. The bear, he well knows, will
revisit the carcass. So cunning, however, is Bruin, and conscious of
guilt, that he is constantly on the watch, as he returns, for an enemy.
He creeps up, accordingly, looking on either side, his caution
increasing as he approaches his prey. The hunter, therefore, to outwit
him, seeks his trail in the direction in which he has retreated, and
conceals himself near it, but at some distance from the carcass. He
waits till the sun is setting, when he is almost sure to see the bear
come tripping nimbly along, not yet thinking it necessary to employ
caution. At this moment a rifle-bullet, placed in his head, deprives
him of his intended feast and his life at the same time.
The black bear possesses wonderful strength--said to be fully equal to
that of ten men. Experiments have been tried, in which so many persons
have attempted to drag off a cask baited with molasses, or other sweet
stuff, secured to a rope, when the bear has carried it away with perfect
ease, in spite of their united efforts to draw it from him.
The most dangerous time to attack a she-bear is in the spring; when she
is accompanied by her cubs. If she has time, she will lead them off to
a place of safety; but if not, she will chase the intruder from her
domains--and woe betide him if he cannot manage to escape her claws!
Bears are easily taken in traps, baited with small bundles of sticks
smeared with molasses. They are hunted in the "fall," when they have
become fat with the ample supply of blue and whortle berries or
beech-mast on which they have been feeding. To obtain the beech-mast,
Bruin will frequently climb a tree, and sometimes, like the orang-outang
of Eastern seas, will build a rough platform for himself among the upper
branches, where he can lie concealed and munch his food at leisure. The
most certain way to obtain the animal in this case is to cut down the
tree and shoot him as he reaches the ground, for, as may be supposed, he
is in no amiable mood when thus disturbed, and, unless speedily killed,
would attempt to wreak a fearful vengeance on his assailants. The black
bear springs on his prey in the same way as does the tiger or panther of
the southern part of the continent. He thus frequently kills the young
moose, though the full-grown animal is too active and powerful to be
thus caught. He will even attack horses in the same way, though the
latter animal often receives him with a furious kick.
In the summer, the black bears unite and hunt in gangs, making the
forest resound with their fearful snarling and loud moaning cries. They
give warning to the hunter to pile fuel on his camp-fire, and to take
his rifle in hand, for, strong in numbers, they will not hesitate to
approach him, and, if pressed by hunger, to make an assault on his camp.