Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-05-16

A letter dated Bethel, Me-, March
II, printed in Forest and Stream,
gives the writer's personal observa.
tons of the habits of the black
bear as follows;
"These hot days remind old
hunters that the bears are about
awakening out of their long win
ter sleep. They go into den at diff
ferent times in different years, ac-
cording to the abundance or scar
city Of berries. In years of plenty
they prowl about until the last Of
December, and even the first OF
January; at other times they have
been known to den up in Novem-
Der. Sometimes they make their
quarters in nice, snug room in a
ledge; at others, in hollow logs, in
hollow standing trees, under the
bottom of trees partly turned up by
the roots, and even under large
brush heaps, after the snow gets
deep. They often come out in mid
winter, in a heavy thaw, and take a
round turn of a mile or more and
return to their old quarters again,
thus showing that it is the warm
weather which brings them out and
not because they get their nap out.
| have often seen where the bear
has camped on the snow crust by
breaking boughs of evergreen or
tearing dry rotten logs to pieces for
nice, warm bed. They sometimes
leave their winter quarters early in
March, and make some other place
a temporary abode until spring
opens. l have known them to Law
themselves away for six months at
time in cave in a ledge in the
deep recesses of the forest, in utter
solitude, where the dampness of the
rocks only addedto the dismal sur
roundings. They are supposed by
many to suck their paws during
their long isolation, but they do
not neither do they require any
nourishment, for the exhaustion Of
the system is so little that they
usually come out in the spring in
as good condition as they enter
their dens in the fall-generally fat.
Before going into the den they
eat but very little for some time,
and so prepare themselves by de-
grees for their long fasting; and,
when they come out in the spring,
they are very dainty for long time.
They first eat spears of green grass,
then frogs and fish as soon as the
little brooklets open.
"After the snow is gone and the
fish work up the little streams in
the woods and herbage begins to
spring up, the bears begin to follow
the shore Of ponds and streams in
search of food and ether bears. At
this season they rub their feet deep
in the ground and make deep step
pings, and all other bears that hap
pen along in these paths will step
in the same foot marks. So hun
ters set their traps in one of these
deep tracks and cover it so they all
look alike, and they are sure of the
first bear that comes along. AT
this time, which is about the first
Of June in Northern Maine, the
bears will stretch up against a fir
tree and bite large strips of bark
and wood from the tree. Some
people suppose this is to obtain bal
sam to heal their toes which they
have suckedall winter, and so made
tender. suppose it is done be-
cause they feel savage and want to
try their teeth. Others suppose it
is done to let other bears know that
they have been there. The next
move they make, after a week or
two of this tramping, is to traverse
eaoond r,rotvth land or uhara a Tav