kes
them out, treating them with as much tenderness as a mother would her
children. She will lay down her life for them at any time, defending
them with great courage when attacked. It has been said that, like the
alligator-mother, she is sometimes called upon to protect them from
their savage fathers, who would devour them if they could. This I do
not believe.

The black bears are omnivorous. They will eat fish, flesh, fowl, and
vegetables. They are fond of all kinds of berries and sweet fruits.
They "go crazed" after honey, climbing bee-trees and robbing the nests.
They dig for roots--such as groundnuts and prairie-turnips. They lick
up the larva of insects greedily, turning over great logs to get at
them. In the south they tear open the nests of turtles and alligators,
and devour the eggs; and, where there are settlements, they steal into
the fields and eat quantities of young corn and potatoes, making sad
havoc with the crops. They will devour pigs and other animals, eating
their flesh--it might be said, alive--as they do not stop to kill them,
but eat while tearing them to pieces. They will satisfy their hunger
with putrid carcass, or, in short, with anything that is eatable by any
other creature.

Notwithstanding the disgusting variety of his food, the flesh of the
black bear is very palatable. It is a treat among the Indians and white
hunters--particularly the large fat paws, which are esteemed the
"tit-bits." It is, perhaps, because these people are so fond of them,
that they are led to believe the bear himself must be so, and therefore
during his winter retirement entertains himself by sucking them.

There are many ways of capturing the bear. He is hunted by trained
hounds. When thus attacked he will run straight on for ten miles, if
his pursuers do not press him too close. When overtaken, however, he
turns upon the dogs; and, should one of the latter come near enough, a
single blow of his paws will usually send it sprawling. He runs
awkwardly on his plantigrade feet; but, although from his great length
and size he appears to move but slowly, it is not so. He manages to
shuffle over the ground much more rapidly than one would suppose. He
can overtake a man on foot--although a mounted hunter, with his dogs,
will easily overtake _him_. When he finds that he cannot escape by
running, he takes to a tree; and, having clambered high up, tries to
hide himself among the leaves. He does not often s