egions, where scarcely any timber
grows. He prefers wooded districts, however; and in these is most
commonly met with.

Black bears were very plentiful in America previous to its colonisation
by the whites. The demand for their skins caused them to be much hunted
since that event; and of course they are growing less numerous every
day. The fur companies during the last hundred years have obtained
thousands upon thousands of their skins both from white and Indian
hunters. There are still many of these animals found in wild, unsettled
parts; and even in the old and long-inhabited states they are
occasionally met with in secluded and mountainous districts. You would
wonder that they have not been extirpated long ago--being such large
creatures, easily discovered and easily tracked; besides, it is always
an ambition with the settlers and amateur-hunters to kill them.
Moreover, but two cubs are produced at a litter, and that only happens
once a-year. The fact is, that during winter, when the snow is on the
ground and the bear might be easily tracked and destroyed, he does not
show himself, but lies torpid in his den--which is either a cave in the
rocks or a hollow tree. This happens only in the northern countries,
where there are snows and severe winters. In these he disappears for
several months, hiding himself in his dark lair, and living, as the
hunters assert, by "sucking his paws." This assertion, however, I will
not attempt to corroborate. All I can say is, that he retires to his
lurking-place as "fat as butter," and comes out again in early spring as
"thin as a rail."

There is another curious fact about bears, that, to some extent,
explains why they are not easily exterminated. It is this: the old
she-animals are never killed during the period of gestation--for they
are never met with at that time. It has been said there is no hunter to
be found in all America who remembers having killed a she-bear with
young, either of the black or grizzly species. Now this is not the case
with most other animals--such as foxes and wolves--which are often
killed with a whole litter of young, many of their species being thus
destroyed at once.

The she-bear brings forth in winter in the deep recesses of some cave,
where she has lain hid during the whole period of her gestation; and on
this account while with young, she rarely, if ever, falls a victim to
the hunters. When the cubs are large enough to go abroad, she ta