lly formed the
rafters of a moss- and rotten-wood chinked, water-tight roof to the
little cavern in which the old pine stump had once stood and where two
winters ago slept a bear. There was but a single entrance between two
of the now massive birch roots, and it must have proved a tight squeeze
when its tenant last entered. The den was shown to me by a hunter who
the spring before had happened that way. While pausing to listen to
some distant sound, he had heard a stranger one within ten feet of
where he stood. He had heard deep breathing and turning to look down
at the roots of the birches, he had discovered a full-grown black bear
lying there with its head protruding out of the den. The head was
turned toward him and the eyes were fixed upon him with a friendly
expression. Without moving a single step the hunter raised his rifle
and fired, instantly killing the bear that lay motionless scarcely
beyond the muzzle of his gun.

THE TRUTH ABOUT BEARS

The black bear's coat is all of a glossy black, save just the muzzle,
which is light brown. In weight the black bear runs from two hundred
to five hundred pounds. Though he is found throughout the Great
Northern Forest, he is a comparative stay-at-home, for he seldom roams,
even in summer time, more than ten miles from his den, where, if
undisturbed, he goes into the same winter quarters, year after year.
Consequently, his paths are often clearly defined and well-beaten, for
he has the habit of treading repeatedly in his old tracks, and
occasionally he blazes his trail by clawing and biting, as high as he
can reach, a neighbouring tree. There, too, he frequently leaves other
signs--as a dog does at a post. Dog-like, also, other bears that
happen along manifest pleasure or rage according to whether the sign
has been left by friend or foe. The mating season is in June, though
the female rarely bears young except every second year. The young are
born in January while the mother is hibernating; and the cubs, usually
two in number, are at birth very small, weighing only about ten ounces.
The she-bear makes a good mother, for though she shows great affection
for her babies, she nevertheless reprimands them, and cuffs them as
well, whenever they misbehave or fail to comply with her wishes. The
cubs are easily tamed, and being natural little romps, they soon become
proficient wrestlers and boxers, and in latter years, show so much
agility in the manly art that they