, which he imagines
he hears humming, inside the pole.

In the temperate zone bears mate in the summer months and the young are
born late in January, during hibernation. Bear-cubs are very small
babies for such large parents, weighing much less in proportion to
their dams than most other mammals. They are blind, helpless and
almost hairless.

As the old bear is very fat when they are born and they do nothing but
sleep in the dark den, they grow rapidly, so that when they are finally
brought forth at the age of perhaps four months, they have developed
wonderfully and would hardly be recognized as the tiny blind cubs of a
few weeks before.

When the old bears first come forth from hibernation they eat very
little for two or three weeks. Their long fast and the inactivity of
the vital organs have greatly weakened the digestive parts, so they
must have time in which to recover, before they are made to do the hard
work of digesting flesh and bone. The bear, therefore, wisely contents
himself with grass and browse, living very much as a deer would, until
his digestive organs have regained their usual tone, when he will gorge
himself upon the first victim that he is lucky enough to catch.

If Bruin lives in the vicinity of civilization, he would prefer to
break his fast with tender young pig. Pig, to the bear, is what
'possum is to the negro. He will travel for miles and take risks that
he does not often expose himself to, if thereby he can secure a
squealing porker.

The sire and dam do not hibernate together and they are seen together
only during a few weeks of their honeymoon.

Winter quarters are usually found under a fallen tree-top, or in some
natural den in the rocks. If a suitable place cannot be secured, the
bear will even do some excavating on his own account, but they
generally choose a den that nature has provided.

The smaller bears which are usually known as the black bear, are found
to be both black and brown. Cubs of both colors will often be
discovered with the same mother, but the brown variety is not found
east of the Mississippi River. The really black bear also varies in
color with the seasons, being darker and glossier in the cold months.

To see a bear really enjoy himself is to discover him in the blueberry
lot, standing upon his hind legs, swooping the berries into his mouth
with ravenous delight. At such a time his grin of benevolence is very
apparent.

The cubs den up with the o