The Newtown bee., 1880-12-01
BEARSAND HORNETS.
An Old Hunter's Description of Some of
 Their Peeuliartfies.

There are still extensive forests Of beech and oak in the counties of Pike, Wayne and Monroe, in Pennsylvania, and in the adjacent counties of Sullivan and Delaware, In New York, with vast areas of outlying swamp land of laurel, hemlock and tamarack, These are near ly within hearing distance of the Erie railway; but even at this late day the black bear makes in them his favorite breeding and feeding haunts, almost as freely and in nearly as large numbers as it did before civilization had made any advance in the region.
 From an old bear hunter of Pike county it was learned that there are now more signs of hears than have been known for years. Along the edges of the great swamps there is border of soft, black mud. These swamps are, many of them, almost inaccessible to man, and the bears make them their places of refuge. If bears are plenty, the mud along the edges, at thls time of year, will be broken up, as if cows had been walking and stamping in it. At in tervals, also, the mud will be hollowed out in spots eight or ten feet long, two or three feet wide, and two feet deep. If great patches off s scrub oaks are found crushed to the ground, that is a certain indication that bears have been " working" there. They have been out feeding on the acorns. They rise upon their launches among the scrub, and with their forepaws beat the bushes violently. Bears are very fond oi crickets, slugs and tbugs of all kinds, and they know that their favorite in sects make their homes in the fall unden stones on the ground. Consequently, they select spots where the ground IS covered with stones and turn them np to get at the bugs. Yellow jacket and hornet nests, CT rather their contents, are favorite morsels with the black bear. If bear sees a yellow jacket or hornet working in the woods, he acts like a crazy thing until he finds the hole the one enters, or the tree or rock 10 which the nest of the ( ther is fastened. He prances and dances around through the woods, licking his chops and whining and growing, until his unerring scent leads him to the object of his search. Then he gets right down to business. Yellow jackets build their nests in the ground. When the bear finds one, i; takes but a few swoops Of his torepaws to turn 1t wrong side out. The bees swarm out in clouds, and cover the bear until he looks as if painted yellow. He pays no attention to their attacks, al- though an assault of yellow jackets or almost any other animal would soon rasn if in hPstS
 The bear merely shuts his eyes and grins as he scoops the honey out with his paws and icks them off until tn nest is despoiled of every trace of its sweets The old hunter declared that he shot a big bear once in Pincho, swamp, over in the High Knob region He killed it, but when he went in tC drag the carcass out he found that tho bear had been robbing a yellow jacket: nest, and it was still covered with in, fiery little insects. If that bar hac been wounded only, and had showed | ii 5ht, I'd a waltzed right into it without any delay. But when ore O them GUS sed little hot-tailed vaTmints of a yallel jacket come a.divin' at me, l didn' want none O him, and l cut and run wasn't afeered O no woonded bar, bu that yaler bee scared me out. didb 1 dare to 20 arter that bar till next day Hornets build their nests high up ir | the branches of trees, or fasten them tC rocks out of the reach of harm. But cunning as these insects are, they are nC match for the bear. A bear discovers [ hornets nest far out on a limb too smal to bear his weight, or high up on tht | breast of a rock. II the former, il, climbs the tree, breaks of the longes | branch he can get, and, holding 1t II | his ,orepaws, thrashes the mes until it drops to the ground. Some times he dances or stamps on the liml until the nest is shaken of. If the mes is on . rock, the bear goes up to the tol of the ledge above it. Then be gather large stcnes and pieces of wood and roll them down the side of the rock until on strikes the nest and sends 1t tumblin. to the ground below. The hornet
 know what has caused their ruin, an' not one of them deserts the fallen nest but all seem to wait for the appearanc | of the bear. when they attack him a once.
 "A hornet sting" said the hunter, ''i equal to blow from a sledge-hamme
 every time, and one hornet I'll knock bull down. But their bite won't raise
 lump as big as bueSshot on bar, an
 the shaggy critter seems to think 1t heaps O fun. He'll stand up on hi
 hind legs and square off with his fore
 paws at the hornets jest as if he Wa
 boxin' with somebody, only he's carefr
 to keep his eyes shet. Then he'll Ia
 dow and roll all over the rest, as ii h
 wanted to show the hornets how b
 didn't care no more for lem than as
 they was gnats. Once see big she b'al
 which had knocked a hornets nest as bi
 as peck measure off'n a tree, take
 under her arm and walk off with it Q
 cool as if it was one Q her cubs"