The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-01-02
BRUIN is AN EPICURE
From a Juicy Pig to a Colony Of
Ants His Appetite Ranges.
Keeps Well Posted on the Locality in
Which He Lives and Becomes
a Practiced FOrager.
New York Herald

New York Herald
The American black bear has an appe-
tite that may be appropriately termed
elastic. He will kill a thousand pound
steer or capture a tiny field mouse FOR d
meal with equal Indifference. II a pig or
sheep Is not handy TO his reach he Will
dine on n colony Of ants or q nest OF wood
grubs.
The bear has q comprehensive palate.
There is scarcely a thing in the animal or
vegetable kingdom that will not tickle il.
He is an amazing and a diverting crea-
ture when out on a days or e nights
foraging expedition. Thus he may know
where there IS a sheep in pasture, and has
made Up his mind that Il would be mere
satisfactory 10 him. II not to the sheep, if
the latter were in his custody instead OF
cropping the perhaps insufficient grass OF
the mountain meadow.
Then he goes to that pasture, kills the
sheep, skins ii and takes it away. The
best backwoods authorities declare that a
bear can take the pelt OFT a sheep as neat
ly as q butcher can, and, as 1t is not wool
he Is after, but simply mutton, he does not
see any point In burdening himself with
a heavy fleece, and 50 leaves it for the man
whose proprietary interest in the sheep ne
is transferring TO himself.
That is, he leaves the pelt for the man if
the man is not so inconsiderate as to
interrupt the bear before ne has finished
stripping it from the sheep. II the man
intrudes he will lose the pelt as we'll as
the mutton. for the bear doesn't want to
hurt the man, neither does he attend 10
surrender the dinner he came To get; SO he
carries of the sheep, pelt and all, and
skins 1T when he gets home.
6Tuln likes pOrk as We'll as he does mutton
and always knows where ne can get d fat,
juicy pig just for the going after IL. When
ne feels that a bit OF pig would set we'll
on mis- stomach he wends mis- way with de-
liberation and methods toward the sly CIR
~barnyard. where the pig which is to supply
the coveted bit has it's domiciie.
The bear always goes at night, not that
he loves darkness better than light because
his ways are evil, but lust because he is
considerable. Such is the testimony. at any
rate. of the backwoods authorities.
The bear knows that if he goes after the
pig any time during the day he will be
apt to startle the women folks at the
house. who are more than likely to be at
home alone, the men being distributed
about the farm at their work.
More than that, he knows that the time
OF the farmer and his men is valuable.
and that If he should make his call for
the pig in the daytime the shrill and
frightened cries OF the women folks would
be more than likely to reach the ears of
the men, who would naturally leave their
work and hurry to the house to see what
lAc bIOQOiG WGS IlAS ldhlAS Ail0Si NaAUdplc
time from the farm work.
IS CONSIDERABLE.
So the bear goes at night after his pork,
the backwoods authorities declare, and even
then is s~ingularly considerable Of the farm
er's peace and comfort.
Nothing will arouse a farmer from much
needed sleep quicker than the squealing Of
his pig. The bear seems TO be aware Of
that, and to prevent the pig from making
a great hubbub and breaking in on the
weary farmers slumbers, he grabs the pig
around the snout with one paw and holds
it tight shut, while he neatly dispatches the
porker with the other. The pig is unable
to squeal, and the considerate bear thus
saves the farmer a lot of unnecessary ex-
element and discomfort
1t seems odd that a huge animal like the
bear. able TO skin a sheep. would bother
itself about the tiny but inert larva or the
fragile eggs of a bird; but he does. There
Is nothing more awkward looking than q
bear in motion. with his hulking. ungainly
gait, slouching along as if he could make
no Roadway unless he had a wide field to
swing himself in.
But the most expert slack wire performer
cannot surpass the graceful, sure-footed
poise of a bear as he makes his nonchalant
way outson the bough of a tree, where he
has discovered a birds nest, from which he
Is bent on extracting the eggs.
He picks the delicate little things from
their cup-like depository as deftly as my
| lady's taper fingers lift the bonbon from it's
satin lined box.
1 wish there was some evidence that the
bear is as eonsiderate in his treatment of
clared to be Of the farmer upon whose pas
lures and pig pens he levies. tribute.
IL would please me to be able TO say that
the bear appropriates only the eggs of the
crow or the hawk or of other birds that are
not in favor with the farmer anc his
friends. But such is not the fact.
People who do not admire the bear say
that the reason he is not considerable of
birds is that they can't carry a gun, That
may be so. BackwoOds authorities do not
dispute it at any rate.
But It must be admitted that the bear
from their delic ate downy "n nest IN o the
shady grove as promptly and with as little
conscience as he will desDoil the predatory
haWks seraggiy and loud swelling home on
When a bear is raiding birds nests or is
after fruit in a tree he projects himself
about in that tree with a disregard for the
noise he is making that is simply magnifi-
cent. He crashes and smashes things right
and left, although a hunters camp may be-
within a hundred yards of him and he
knows it.
SUCKING ANT EGGS.
The big domelike nests of the red ant of
he woods are familiar sights to all who
ever roaned much in the forests OF north
ern Pennsylvania There would be more
Of them IL it were not for the bears. Ere
q~uently'you discover one of these big domes
in ruins. These dismantled ant homes are
"reminiscences OF be1r. Bruin is ever on the
lookout for an opportunity to not only de-
populate an ant Hill of it's present contin-
gent OF busy life, but to destroy its future
Importance as Il prosperous colony.
When ne has come upon one Of these
homes OF the Industrious ant he knocks its
roof off with one sweep of his paw. The
interior of that dome is a georuetrical net
work of galleries radiat.ng from one CEN
trail amDe
When ne has uncovered this busy interior
the bear places his mouth over the opening,
and If there is anyone in the woods within
an eighth Of & mile Of that spot ne will
have no difficulty to hear what follows.
In the custody of that unroOfed dome are
The countless thousands OF plump eggs OF
that hopeful colony, each one as big as a
grain of barley, together with the myriads
OF ~tireleSs workers. The bear. having fixed
his mouth over the opening. draws his
breath with a force that almost equals the
draught of al air pump and with q noise
that takes but little exaggeration to com
pare with the utcertnSS Of a fog horn.
Involuntarily responding to that tremen.
dous inspiration, quiescent eggs and bus
Ting ants shoot up the meny galleries into
the central one, and thence into Bruins
capacious NAV. The bear seldom draws
his breath mora than twice over an ant
hill.
After that the dome will be tenantless
and its future gone In the same way the
bear extracts the larvae of the humble bee
and yellow Jacket from their subterranear
repositories.
AS q fisherman the bear Is an expert. HI
will stand in a creek or in the shallow
water on the shores OF ponds as still and
solemn as a crane until a fish or froe
swim unsuspectingly along near him. Like
a flash down goes one OF his big fOrepaws
and it ruSf he a lively fish that iS ont NJ