The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1915-10-28
AN AMlAbkED
The >Slaok Bear Is the Happy
HooNgan of the Woods.
He IS NOT A BIT FERocIous.

Lazy, Playful Loafsr That Avoids
Men and Flights or Works Only When
He 10 Compelled to Do So.
The black bear Is neither ~ferocious
nor dangerous. The most fitting name
I have ever heard given him is the
Happy Hooligan Of the Woods. He is
a lazy. playful loafer and has no evil
Intentions; but, like a shut-in boy or
a boy with a task to perform, he wants
company-does not know just what to
do with himself.
The black bear has more human-like
traits than any other animal ! know.
He is a boy in disguise-wM not work
long at anything unless at something
to produce mischief. Occasionally he
finds things dull and simply does not
know what to do with himself. He Is
happy 60 lucky, and taking thought Of
the morrow Is not one of his troubles.
He Is afraid OF the grizzly and avoids
man as though he were a pestilence.
He plans no harm. In other words,
the black bear Is just the opposite in
character Of what he had long been
thought and is still almost universally
believed to be. A million writers and
spoken stories have II that he is Zero
cious-a wanton, cruel killer. He fights
or works only when compelled to do 80.
He is the most plausible buffer /
have ever With hair bristling on
the back, upper lip stuck forward and
an onrush, with q rapid volley of
champing k-woof-f-rs, he appears ter
rible. He pulls himself out Of many
a predicament and obtains many an
unearned morsei in this way. Most
Of his bluffs are for amusement. He
will 60 far out Of his way for the pur-
pose Of running.
A black bear climbs a tree almost as
readily as a cat, and he climbs a small
pole or a large tree with equal ease.
The grizzly does not climb trees, but
paws, can simply race up a tree trunk.
Much Of his time, both asleep and
awake, Is spend in treetops. He might
almost be called 4 perching animal.
Like most animals the black bear has
q local habitation. His territory is
twenty or less miles in circumference,
and In this he Is born, lives and dies.
In s%pTingtime he descends to feed on
the earliest wild gardens Of the foot
hills.
The black bear eats everything that
is edible. Though ~omnivOrous, his food
Is mainly that Of a vegetarian. He
digs out rich willow and aspen roots
In the shallow and soft places and
tears up or digs out numerous plants
for their roots or tubers. Often he eats
grass and devours hundreds of juicy
weeds. During autumn / have seen him
on the edges Of snow fields and gla-
ciers consuming thousands of unfor-
tunate grasshoppers, flies and other in
sects there accumulated. He Is par
ticuiariy fond of ~ants-iears ant hills
and decaying logs to pieces and ticks
up the ants as they come storming
forth to bite him. He tears hundreds
Of rotten logs and stumps to pieces for
grubs, ants and their eggs.
He freely eats honey, the bees and
lucu. hcoIS. I1c IdLShCS hlfNC uuu VI
ten amuses himself and makes a most
amusing and manlike spectacle by
chasing and catching grasshoppers.
He will devour carrion. In a fish coun-
try he searches for fish and occasion
ally catches live ones, but ne is too
restless or shiftless to be a good fish.
erman.
n. Llnatx laa - Il, 49, x.vnn fAx.aI nrAt
ty well distributed over North Ameri.
ca. His color and activities vary some.
what with the locality, this variation
being due perhaps to a difference of
climate and In the food supply.
The black bear has a well developed
brain and may be classed among the
alert animals of the wild. Its senses
are amazingly developed. They seem
to be ever on duty.
Young black bears have good tenn
pers and are playful in captivity, but
II leased or annoyed they become trou-
blesome and even dangerous with age.
II thine enemy offend thee present
him with a black bear cub that has
been mistre&ted. He Is an intense,
high strung animal and, IL subjected
to annoyances, teasing or occasional
cruelty, becomes %revengeful and vim
dictive. Sometimes he will even look
for trouble and, once in a fight, has
the ~tenacity of a bulldog.
The black bear has never been pro
tected as a game animal. Through all
the seasons Of the year, with gun and
dogs, the hunter Is allowed to pursue
him. 1t would be well for a few years
to have a closed season on bears, As
he Is yerging on extinction and as he
gives to the wilds much Of their spirit,
there ought to be a closed season to
protect this r~ollicking fellow Of the
forest.
II I were asked to select the one en-
blematic animal that best gives and
suggests the spirit and the spell Of the
great outdoors / should select the
black bear.-Enos A. Mills In Saturday
Evening Post.
Diseourassmsnt In Q Laugh.
Don't you always feel encouraged
when people laughT' asked the man at