and the naked pink and blue ears. In size it resembles a cat.
The 'possum is found from Connecticut to Florida and westerly to
California.

Gray-squirrel (_Sciurus carolinensis_)

America is particularly rich in squirrels. Not counting
ground-squirrels or chipmunks, we have over seventy-five different
forms on this continent. The widest spread is probably the
red-squirrel; but the best known in the United States is the common
gray-squirrel. Its gray coat white breast, and immense {142} bushy
tail are familiar to all eastern children. It is found in most of the
hardwood timber east of the Mississippi and south of the Ottawa River
and the State of Maine. Most of the nut trees in the woods of this
region were planted by the gray-squirrel.

Black Bear (_Ursus americanus_)

This is the common bear of America. It is known at once by its jet
black color and brown nose. Its claws are short, rarely over an inch
long, and curved, serving better as climbers than do the long claws of
the grizzly. Two hundred pounds would be a good sized female, three
hundred a male; but Florida black bears have been taken weighing five
hundred pounds. Sometimes freaks with cinnamon-brown coats are found.

This bear is found throughout North America wherever there is timber.

NOTES

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Notes

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Notes

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CHAPTER III

CAMPCRAFT
(In treating of camping there has been an intentional omission of the
long-term camp. This is treated extensively in the books of reference
given at the close of this chapter.)

Hiking and Over-night Camp
_By H. W. Gibson, Boys' Work Secretary,
Young Men's Christian Association
Massachusetts and Rhode Island_

Several things should be remembered when going on a hike: First, avoid
long distances. A foot-weary, muscle-tired and temper-tried, hungry
group of boys is surely not desirable. There are a lot of false
notions about courage and bravery and grit that read well in print,
but fail miserably in practice, and long hikes for boys is one of the
most glaring of these notions. Second, have a leader who will set a
good easy pace, say two or three miles an hour, prevent the boys from
excessive water drinking, and assign the duties of pitching camp, etc.
Third, observe these two rules given by an old woodsman: (1) Never
walk over anything you can walk around; (2) never step on anything
that you can step over. Every time you step on anything you lift the
weight of your