The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-11-27
SMART PINE CREEK BEARS.
JERRY CHAMBERLAIN HAS PROOF
or THEIR INTELLIGENCE.

OF THEIR INTELLIGENCE:
A Bear Convention That He witnessed-Ono
Did Bear the Chief o~rator-Four Bears
and n Tub of Honey-Their Doxterity in
Carrying the Tub Across n Ravine,
WILL1AMsPoRT. Pa, Nov. 26.-Jerrv Cham
berlain Of Cedar Run says he has hunted black
bears In the Pine Greek region for fortySfve
years. and his observation proves that Bruin
advances In sagaclty and deviltry as the peo-
ple progress In cupidity and modern methods.
Chamberlain is firm In the belief that black
bears hold conventions, for one day In the lat
ter part OF tho past summer. while on u bee
tree hunt. he saw what he thinks was a bear
pow-wow. His attention was attracted by q
queer chopping or chattering noise. inter-
spersed with n series OF low. quick squenis.
sometimes several OF these together. He In
vestloated and found that the queer sounds
we're made by a colony or gathering Of black
bears In the shade of q ledge CT rocks. There
were nine bears. and all full grown.
Chamberlain had an excellent chance for
observation from the top OF the cliff which
overhung the meeting place. He says tho
bears were lying about In a very lazy fashion.
except that one. which seemed to be the boss.
sat on his "hunkers' in the centre OF the
group. This bear was very demonstrative in
his movements, and 1t wns he who was making
most OF the chatterlng noise. An occasional
grunt or squeal from the others seemed to in
dictate approval ordisapproval. as the case might
be. Chamberlain watched the queer gather
ing for a half hour or more. 1t broke up sud-
denly after every bear In the crowd had sham
blsd MP backward against a straight hemlock
tree and marked his height with n scratch
on the bark. Then. when each had taken his
measure. they went g%runting away In differ
ent directions.
But something that happened to Chamber
lain about two weeks ago is construed by him
as positive proof that the bears nowadays are
much sharper than those OF twenty or thirty
years ago. Chamberlain, during the season.
succeeded In finding four fine bee trees.
He always waits until early frosts before he
cuts his bee trees. for he believes in giving the
bees gil the time possible to All comb. Then.
tie the stun Il M Is h NOT 50 IS sof sa Rep t a,se bees sela 50 T Tasd so
smother. In the early part Of November he
buckets to q place nearest to all the trees to
chopped Yielded a splendid lot Of the finest
evidently been gathered from buckwheat and
white clover. Fortunately. too. when the tree
on the ground quite gently. disturbing the
comb little, The men got over a tubful OF
they considered a safe place under a shelving
rock, while they went, a mile or two further
Unfortunately for Chamberlain and his tub
ful Of honey, It vas the ne3t day before he got
| Dack 10 WneT6 ne Tau Dluuen Un6 IuD, y sud-
den storm having compelled him aud hii part
ner TO beat a retreat for home. Next morninS
hidden the honey. but much to their c6aagrin
they found that somebody during the night
h had ,r renewed oat TIP ihs 9 fbisS all; b phey were fr not ss t ,Sag
stood cursing the thief who had robbed them
OF their hard. earned sweets Cham berlain's
rayine a sound that made, him exclaim:
Bears, the black devils, they've got our
what a mess. too.
sneakinG through the ;thieket that formed
came upon a semi.clearing beneath q clump OF
oak trees, part va, way up the other side; where
cuss in their choicest style. but which. at sec
ond glance appeared SO ridiculous that It made
fesm liTsn old On on sse aG Sdtftt W0 ba Tfss 5Sgf c S1ssk
and close by was the more than half,empty
the honey, with both paws. pulling out great
hunks of the comb and crunching II between
e.s }aws; sa tbs Sst5s m and sri f y y S SfaRts ap et
disguised pleasure, But the cubs;,poo little
d aso much ., n the l honey s snd both sRa we sas i sat fse
rhroes Of fierce case OF stomach ache. The
i fuss G Xsss r9 sosefhs seG snd On sa ans tfinSnhfia Ike te ese
shoats IN a slaughter pen. And the mother
R Rifst T sSs e ense snS thsn 70 th seo oth her 81, GH5' %onId
take and rub-rub where, the, pain seemed
t~ercest and rub as though the 'tomachs OF the
the gluttopous little devils and the way shed
learned it from. peekine into. a CUMMINGS
township, sehoolroom some day when the
s Sssd si' y ss13as r. s Ffh F ssiias; III Rss%sSss.
waded into the contents Of ne tub Mrs: Bear
s sSns,f ike as IS II tn they !Hi had eoiic or had been eat
ing green apples.
Of capturing the cubs. They reckoned that the
little cusses, were toe, sick to be able to run;
sEiedsddiie as, soon as they, saw them. But
they reckoned wrong. The bears were not to
oes iFi savs 9ee po a Z n fniv wsr' T MlesO sad TsnR1
leaped from their hiding place into the clear
HiH INA n ;ast m as su tes 3 5ed di da I'D M sfDn B rnf p Teav:
of eating honey and prepare for defence. The
% men. ei FSsd,. about ,nst the Gu9 96s si Of bears cn6s vb The
Ar 50 hd Ditl4tu sntl that even Hs S old %f bax ch 9eaIest-
SI his mind to light. He made for the men
on n double quick, reinforced by the mother
sSdes SeS az 70 MAKE ! detoSr e get dow
into the ravine again, when. suddenly The she
q money: emerElnE theFsfFOm with che sticky ds1rI
ping from his long. unkempt locks. But 70
was no, time tor for, Mrs. Bruin
the honey. rushed into the thicket., the old
bear fortunately following no further than the
Chamberlain Succeeded in getting away
without mishap. but the men did not venture
back for the remainder OF their honey for
some time. When they did 20 back there was
nous bears and clumsy Kuntz the honey had
Jared badly. How the bears succeeded H.car-
rylng the tubful Of honey from the rock ledge
to the opposite side Of the rayine is a puzzle 70
Chamberlain. but that they did the lob and did
was moved and the trail along which they had
carried It showed that little had spilled ed and nd
greedy cnbs as their parents tugged along
with their burden. This honey ~, experienfe
saw last summer have convinced him that
Pine Creek bears are too smart for him.