Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1881-02-16
BEARS IN PENNSYL TANIA.

There are still extensive forests of
beech and oak in the counties Of
Wayne, Pike, and Monroe, in Penn
sylvania, and in the adjacent counties
of Sullivan and Delaware, in New
York, with vast areas of outlaying
swamp land of laurel, hemlock and
tamarack These are nearly within
hearing distance of the Erie Railway
but even at this late day the black
bear makes in them its favorite breed
ing and feeding haunts, almost as
freely aud in nearly as large numbers
as it did before civilization had made
advance in the region.
From an old bear hunter of Pike
county it was learned that there are
more signs of bears this fall than have
been known for years. Along the
edges of the great swamp5 there is
border of soft, black mud These
swamps are, many of them, most in
accessible to man, and the bears make
them their places of refuge If bears
are plenty .the mud along the edges,
at this time of tie year will be broken
up, as if COWS had been walking and
stamping in it. At intervals, also the
mud will be followed out in spots
eight or ten feet long, two or three
feet wide and two feet deep. If great
patches of scrub oak are crushed 10 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 fore
paws beat thebushes violently, Bears
are very found of crickets, slugs, and
bugs of all kinds, and they know that
their favorite insects make their homes
in the fall under stones on the ground.
Consequently, they select spots where
the ground is covered with stones,
and turn them up to get the bugs.
Yellow jacket and hornet nests, or
their contents, are favorite morsels
with the black bear. If bear sees a
yellow jacket or hornet working in the
woods, he acts like crazy thing un-
til he finds the hole the one enters, or
the lTec vi IOCh W uiCu Guo ucot vi
the other is fastened He prances and
dances around through the woods, lick
ing his chops and whining and growl
ing, until his unerrng scent leads him
to the object of his search, then he gets
right down to business. Yellow jack
cts build their nests in the ground.
When the bear finds one, it takes but
o few swoops of his fore pay to turn it
wrong side out The bees swarm out
in clouds, and cover the bear as if
painted yellow He pays no attention
to their attacks although an assault of
yellow jackets on almost any other
animal would soon result in death.
The bear shuts his eyes and grinS
as he scoops the honey out with his
paws and licks them off until the nest
is dispoiIed of every trace of its sweets
The old hunter declares that he shot a
big bear once in Pichot Swamp, over
in High Knob region He killed it,
but when he went in to drag the car
cass out he found that the bear had
been robbing yellow jackets nest,
and it was still covered with the fiery
insects. "If that bar had been wound
ed only, showed fight, I'd waltzed
right into it without any delay! But
when one o. them little hot-taled var
Minis of a yaler jacket come dlvin'
at me, | didn't want none O. him, and
| cut and run. | want afeered o. no
wounded bar, but that yaller bee scared
me out. didn't dare to go after that
bar till next day.
Hornets build their nests high up in
the branches of trees, or fasten them to
rocks out of reach of harm But, cum
ming as these insects are, they are no
match for the bear A bear discovers
a hornets nest far out on limb too
small to bear his weight. or high up on
the breast of rock. If the former, he
climbs the tree, breaks off the longest
branch he can get, and, Lolding it in
his fore paw, tbrashes the nest until it
drops to the ground. Sometimes he
dances or stamps on TIE limb until the
nest is shaken off. If the nest is on a
rock, the bear goes up to the top of the
ledge above it. Then he gathers large
stones and pieces of wood and rolls
them down the side of the rock to the
ground below. The hornets seem to
know what has caused their ruin and
not one of them deserts the fallen nest,
but all seem to wait for the appearance
of the bear, when they attack him at
once.
"a hornet sting" says the old hun
ter, "is equal to blow from a sledge
hammer every time, and ono hornet
III knock bull down. But their bite
won't raise a lump as big as o buck
shot on bar, and the shaggy critter
seems to think it's heap of fun.
He'll stand up on his hind legs and
square off with his fore paws at the
hornets jest as if he was boxin' with
somebody, and he's durn careful to
keep his eyes shet Then he'll lay
down and roll all over the rest, as if he
wanted to show the hornets now he
didn't care no more for 'em than as if
they were gnats. Once | see big
she bar which had knocked hornets
nest as big as peck measure off tree
take it under her arm and walk off
with it as cool as if it was ore O. her
cubs"
"AN AXE TO GRIND"