Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-12-09
Bears and Their Ways.


to bears have endured from periods
long antedating the Investigations of
natufalists. Certain of these ideas are
fact.
1t is a fact that the representative
polar bear of the greatest strength.
courage and ferpeity has yellowish
coat. and that the pure white coat, as
q general rule, is mark of cowardice.
1t is difficult to account for this fact.
unless 1t be ascribed to some faint OF
albinisul, which is almost invariably
accompanied by Weakness and degen-
eraey in an animal. 1t has been point
ed out that there must have been
time in the dim past when single
type of bear living on mixed diet OF
flesh and fruit, to which polar bears
in captivity speedily adapt themselves,
the lighter and more speedy of these
animals would tend to go northward,
finding food later in the autumn than
the others. and mating together before
their winter torpor. Thus they would
produce the highly specialized type
which cannot climb trees, but, instead,
is wonderfully adapted. with its hair
soled feet. to scramble over ice. and
with it's long. 1.-the body and sinuous
limbs to swim long distances or spring
upon its prey, the seal.
In captivity no bears hibernate. To
the polar bear winter brings 3 disin
clination for baths; to the Malay or
Himalayan, kept indoors ii makes no
difference; but the black and brown
hears of both sexes eat sparingly at
intervals, and sometimes sleep for two
or three days together in their dens
at this time. In their wild state the
black and brown bears choose a cave
or hollow tree, and there the trapper
seeks them for their pelts and for
their abundant grease. The discolored
enow around the small hole kept open
by the animals breathing does not es-
cape the trapper's practiced eye. nor
the scratched tree trunks where the
black bear has scrambled up to lie hid
den in some hollow. perhaps 40 feet
above.
This mild-mannered and indolent
beast. which seeks only To turn and
sleep again, falls an easy prey to the
hunter. But the brown bear of Europe
and the grizzly of America are reused
10 fury when disturbed.
There are various ways of taking or
turning" the bear. Polar bears, both
young and old. are often taken with a
moose laid around a piece of blubber
in hole and captured and packed in
one operation by hauling them into
casks and coopering them. Their love
of sweet things is the undoing of 9TH
err bears. They will go into box traps
ard fall traps after honey. or fasten
their heads in nail-studded molasseS
barrel while sucking the sirup. In some
parts of the world they commit such
havoc while in search of fruit that
cultiysstors are obliged to spread bird
lime for them
Catlin, an authority on the animal
once said that "a man lying down was
medicine to a grizzly. although it is
well-known fact that these monsters of
from 500 to 1000 pounds weight attack
any man or horse they come across"
This characteristic repugnance to touch
anything dead or motionless seems to
indicate that primarily the bear was a
fruit -eating beast. This has become
an accepted tenet of natural history be-
fore the discovery of the offal- eating
polar bear.
Bear talk was always considered
good medicine by the Indians. If
bear blocked their path they addressed
him politely. reminding him of their,
common brotherhood, praising his no.
bility and requesting him kindly to al
low them an unmolested passage. This.
* is said he frequently did, for, being
by nature inoffensive, the soft accents
did not disturb him. and so he would
go OH his way.
Some naturalists contend that bears
do not hug" while others contend
that, with the exception of the Polar
bear. they do. 1t is sometimes asserted
that the bear never walks naturally on
his hind legs but this statement is in
correct Bears often walk on two legs
after descending a tree, and they have
been seen deliberately to assume an
upright attitude in order to toss an
object. The same statement applies to
their wrestling since they engage in
the most strenuous contests of his kind,
in which hugging plays a prominent
part An approved half Nelson often
finishes the good-natured bout Bears
have been held to be dull and foolish.
In the Morse and Russian folk tales
they are the butts of the peasant or of
the fox. But few animals, except mon
keys, are so intelligent. None play
so well together, none learn untaught
SO many tricks and none are so sus-
eeptible to education. Bears, too have
sense of humor.
Few sports have had such a great
and extended popularity as bear bait
ing. The Romans imported their bears
from Britain, and the sport can be
traced in England to the Conquest or
beyond. Queen Elizabeth was so fond
Of the sport that by an order in Coun-
Gil, she prohibited plays to be per-
formed oa Thursday because bear bait
ing and such pastimes had usually
been practiced. New York Press.