The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-09-05
BLACK BEAR A JOKER.
BRUIN OF CALIFORNIA SEEMS TO
HAVE SENSE OF HUMOR.

to Play Leapfrog With Young
Ones-WIn Eat Anything From an
Ant TO an Ox-Never Willingly At
tacIs Man.
California Letter in Chicago Inter-ocean.
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 ih1lking, 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 Amer
lean mountains. Probably no other beast
on four feet has quite so many humorous
ways or the same strain of backwoods
philosophy as the common black bear.
Hunters and tfappers tell 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 hum
orous. Many a hunter will sit all night by
a camp fire and argues that he knows that
black bears smile al their own nonsense.
Black bears of the Pacific coast seldom
weigh more than $50 pounds. The average
is $40 pounds. Col Theodore Roosevelt,
who has hunted bears and written about
them, says that he has seen black bears
in Wyoming that weighed 700 pounds. The
grizzly bears weigh from coo to 1900
pounds, and stands at full
hight sometimes seven and
half feet high The claws of a grizzly
are sharply curved. and vary from three
to five inches in length; the claws of a
black bear are seldom three inches long,
and are straight, like a dogs. Grizzly
bears have a coarse, shaggy pelt, while
black bears have smooth and rather
glossy coat of hair, except about the face
which is tan or straw colored.
The strength of a, black bear is largely
In its shoulders and forepaWs. wound
ed black bear that sees no chance of es-
cape from a pursuer will rise upon Its
hind legs and come siriding forward to
meet its foe face to face. Then as quick
as flash, unless shot down or overpower-
ed it will strike its adversary in the face
or across the chest so as TO fell him to the
ground. In the days of Spanish rule in
California, when fights between bulls and
bears were features of the gala weeks
following the annual rodeo Ii Is said that
the black bear almost invariably attacked
the bull by suddenly leaplng to its fun
hight on its hind legs and dealing the bull
powerful blow across the eyes or on
the nose. The skull of bun has been
known to be crushed by one blow of a
strong black bears paw
The diet of black bears probably in
cludes the greatest range of any beast.
Grizzly bears come next to their black
brothers with omniyerous appetites Bru-
in hunger may be appeased by almost any
ediJle from an ant to an OK. A bear viii
feast for days at a time on grubs, gophers
and field mice. 1t will wax strong on AN
| immensely populous ant hill will enjoy
fish diet for a whole season, viii go miles
to get a pig or a sheep or a calf or colt
and will climb trees to devour birds eggs.
it thrives equally well on flesh or vegeta-
bles, and will eat green corn in the husk
or smack its lips over melons, and dayour
| grapes with-as much fonduees as over n
deer or a raccoou. Berries Of all kinds
and acorns are Bruin s. chief diet at some
seasons. The bear loves jam and - pre-
serves as much as child. and will risk
It's very life for a taste of honey.
There may be doubt as 10 the exact va
| riety of the bears that came down and de-
voured the children who made sport of
Elisha's bald pate, but California hunt
ers will aequit the black bear of the deed
| Black bears, at least never attack human
beings unless their cause is desperate or
they have been maddened by pain or
wounds. whole family of black bears
| viii do everything possible to get out Of
the way of a lone and unarmed man, eynn
| if hungry, and will go miles to avoid a
| camp of hunters and select the darkest
night for proving among pig pens and
| sheepfolds. But the good nature ana re-
firing character of the bear may be chang
ed in a moment if II is hurt or so closely
| followed by a hunter that IL sees no means
of escape. In a twinkling the most ami
able black bear may become an animated
! cyclone and dash at its pursuers TO Kill
| or be killed.
The sense of smell in bear is extra
ordinary. One has been known to scent an
| anhill or a tree filled with honey a mile
| away. Hunters of bears have any num-
! Der of stories to tell of the sagacity W
| black bears seeking their food. 1t is com
mon for a person walking through the
| sparse timber up in the California noun
| tain valleys to come upon the ruins of q
great domelike hill of ants. 1t shows
where the bear has had a feast, for Bruin
! is always on the alert for such com
munity of ants and never wastes any time
| in making the attack. With one sweep
| of ats powerful fcrepaw it demolishes the
roof of the anthill. The maze of courts,
galleries and tunnels made by the ants IS
| laid bare. In a moment the bear has put
! it's open mouth down into the hill, where
the tunnels and galleries run into ceu-
trail Chamber like hopper and sucks into
| his mouth ants and their eggs. A dozen
| strong limitations will generally depopu-
! late an ant community and leave very few
eggs for another generation OF ants to
/ build up a city on the ruins left by the
bears attack.
The choicest food for bears is honey,
and the skill with which they find a tree
filed with wild honey is another one OF
the wonderful things about the beasts. In
Mexico, especially in Lower California,
the natives who make a business of gath
ering honey have tame black bears TO To-
cate bees and honey for them. When
the store of honey is found Bruin VIII
thump up and down the trunk of the tree
with forepaws until It gets hollow sound.
| In a moment more 1t has scratched and
| chewed away the bark and wood until II
makes a hole large enough TO thrust in a
paw and draw It out dripping with honey.
Like a child eating preserves, the bear re-
peatedly sops its great paw with honey
and licks it with delight. A swarm OF
angry bees may buzz about its head and
get into its wide-open mouth, but that
does not bother the bear. 1t just shuts