The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-09-05
HUMoR OF THE BLACK BEAR.

Makes Sport for the Cubs-Sagacity
 in Eluding the Hunter-Ferocity of
 the Black Bear When Aroused.
 Pomona, Cal, Aug. 2S-The black bear is as different from the grizzly in disposition and character as the lion Is from the hyena The grizzly Is a great hulking, mean, dyspeptic, savage and always ugly brute, while the black bear is at once the fun-loving comedian and the bold, reckless tough of the Ameri- can mountains. Probably no other beast on four feet has quite so many humorous ways or thAsame strain of backwoods philosophyIas the common black bear. HuntMs and trappers ten how they have spent hours in quiet amusement while, lying concealed by brush they have watched the antics of family of black bears in the home den. Old hunters say that black bears know that they are humorous, Many a hunter will sit all night by campfire and argue that he knows that black bears smile at their own nonsense. But this same amusing, prankish, clum- sy black fellow is a terror even 10 the oldest and coolest hunters after wild beasts when enraged or wounded or trapped, and in it's rage 1t will attack with desperate ferocity anything in the animal line.
 Black bears of the Pacific coast sell dom weigh more than six hundred and fifty pounds. The average is four hun- dred and fifty pounds. Colonel Theo- dore Roosevelt who has hunted bears and written about them, says that he has seen black bears in Wyoming that weighed seven hundred pounds. The chief differences be tween grizzly and black bears are in color, size and the shape and length of the claws The grizzly bears weigh from six to twelve hundred pounds, and stand at full height sometimes seven and half feet high. The claws of a grizzly are sharp ly curved, and vary from three to five inches in length, and have projecting edges as sharp aS razors; the claws of a black bear are seldom three inches long, and are straight, like dogs. Experienced hunters instantly distin- guish black bears track from that Of a grizzly. Grizzly bears have coarse shaggy pelt, while black bears have smooth and rather glossy coat of hair, except about the face, which Is tan or straw colored. Black bears live about twenty-two years. Two black bears from California confined in the Zoologi- cal Garden in Philadelphia lived nearly thirty years, but that was unusual.
 The remarkable strength of black bear is largely in its shoulders and forepaws. It rarely hugs it's victim to death, as do grizzlies and Arctic bears, but relies upon the power of its blow. A wounded black bear that sees no chance of escape from pursuer will rise upon it's hind legs and come strid ing forward to meets its foe face to face. Then as quick as flash, unless shot down or overpowered it will strike it's adversary in the face or across the chest so as to fell him to the ground, whereupon Bruin will fall upon him and with teeth and claws tear him to pieces In the days of Spanish rule in Califor- flia, when fights between bulls and bears were features of the gala weeks following the annual rodeo it is said that the black bear almost invariably attacked the bull by suddenly leaping to it's full height on It's hind legs and dealing the bull a powerful blow across the eyes or on the nose. The skull of bull has been known to be crashed by one blow of a strong black bears paw, and it was common to see bull so dazed by staggering blow across the eyes that bruin could throw it to the ground and tear it's neck into shreds. The strength of black bears is shown also by the weight of carcasses they carry long distances to their cubs or their dens Hunters tell of having trailed bears carrying pigs, calves, colts and sheep, weighing from seventy to one hundred and fifty pounds, for ten or more miles up steep mountainsides and through rugged gulches, over arears of boulders and fallen logs so fast that it was impossible for the hunter to over- take them. Ranchmen in nearly every county in California and Oregon know instances of where cattle and horses in the fields have been almost killed by single blow upon the head struck by ravenous and therefore extra bold black bear.
 Bruins shambling, unwieldy gait leads people to believe that the bear is one of the clumsiest of animals The curious 11ulking. wabbling stride of the bear is due to the absence of the clavi- cle CT shoulder bone, which in nearly all other members of the animal king dom serves to keep the shoulders apart. When the bear walks, it's shoulder blaes and forelegs wabble, and the anil maj seems to be shuff1ing along. The easy, dignifed carriage of members of the feline tribe is largely due to their strong c1avicles and their compact me chanical joints. Now Bruin has the very loosest joints of any wild beast. In fact. the joints at the ankles are so loose that in hundreds of instances bears have chewed a foot free from trap or torn the fastened paw from the teeth of a strong iron trap.
 The cubs of bears are born with their eyes closed and it is from two to three weeks before they can see. In Califor- mia. where caves and caverns are scarce, the male and the female bear will together dig with their claws a cave in the soft earth side of a moun- tain or canon. Sometimes tunnel-like hole will be driven some six or seven feet into the mountainsides, and the bear will cover the floor with leaves or soft manzanita or sage brush. Here the cubs are born, the male bear minis tering to the wants of the female and her young for a few weeks. At the end of nine months the young bears are able to go away and set up home for themselves.
 The diet of black bears probably in-