The _Black Bear_ (ursus Americanus) is found in considerable numbers in the northern districts of America. In size and form he approaches nearest to the Brown Bear; but his color is a uniform shining jet black, except on the muzzle, where it is fawn colored; on the lips and sides of the mouth it is almost gray. The hair, except on the muzzle, is long and straight, and is less shaggy than in most other species. The forehead has a slight elevation, and the muzzle is elongated, and somewhat flattened above. The young ones, however, are first of a bright ash color, which gradually changes into a deep brown, and ends by becoming a deep black. Illustration: Black Bear. The American Black Bear lives a solitary life in forests and uncultivated deserts, and subsists on fruits, and on the young shoots and roots of vegetables. Of honey he is exceedingly fond, and as he is a most expert climber, he scales the loftiest trees in search of it. Fish, too, he delights in, and is often found in quest of it on the borders of lakes and on the seashore. When these resources fail, he will attack small quadrupeds, and even animals of some magnitude. As, indeed, is usual in such cases, the love of flesh in him grows with the use of it. As the fur is of some value, the Indians are assiduous in the chase of the creature which produces it. ‘About the end of December, from the abundance of fruits they find in Louisiana and the neighboring countries, the bears become so fat and lazy that they can scarcely run. At this time they are hunted by the American Indians. The nature of the chase is generally this: the bear chiefly adopts for his retreat the hollow trunk of an old cypress tree, which he climbs, and then descends into the cavity from above. The hunter, whose business it is to watch him into this retreat, climbs a neighboring tree, and seats himself opposite to the hole. In one hand he holds his gun, and in the other a torch, which he darts into the cavity. Frantic with rage and terror, the bear makes a spring from his station; but the hunter seizes the instant of his appearance, and shoots him.’ The black bear, says Godman, like all the species of this genus, is very tenacious of life, and seldom falls unless shot through the brain or heart. An experienced hunter never advances on a bear that has fallen, without first stopping to load his rifle, as the beast frequently recovers to a considerable degree, and would then be a most dangerous adversary. The skull of the bear appears actually to be almost impenetrable, and a rifle ball, fired at a distance of ninety-six yards, has been flattened against it, without appearing to do any material injury to the bone. The best place to direct blows against the bear is upon his snout; when struck elsewhere, his dense woolly coat, thick hide, and robust muscles, render manual violence almost entirely unavailing.