Some authorities have it that only the she bear hibernates and that
the male continues in the active exercise of all his faculties. Ross
weighed a polar bear which tipped the scales at 1,131 pounds; Lyon saw
one which weighed 1,600 pounds; Dr. Neale tells of one measuring
eleven feet exclusive of the tail. Senator Wm. P. Frye has the skin of
one, presented to him by an explorer, which measures nine feet seven
inches exclusive of the tail of two inches. Its girth around the body
just back of the forelegs is ten feet.
IV.
THE CINNAMON BEAR.
_Ursus Cinnamoneous._
The Cinnamon Bear has been called a variety of black bear. I am
inclined to believe it a separate genus. The head has many points of
difference. It is wider. The eyes are set deeper, and closer together.
There is a better breadth of brain. The feet are smaller. The fur is
rather longer than that of the black bear and much softer. The color
is dark chestnut, and as the bear ages there is an occasional gray
hair. The cinnamon is more dignified than the black bear, and he also
remembers an injury longer. A baby cinnamon was captured by a friend
of mine and brought to the city. A chain was placed about its neck,
and this was attached to a peg that was hammered in the ground. As
soon as I heard of the coming of his bearship I hurried over and made
his acquaintance. He ate a quart of milk soaked into as much bread as
it would hold, and enjoyed it greatly. He chewed on my finger every
time I dipped it into sugared water without biting.
I left him fast asleep. When I returned in the afternoon he was
walking from side to side, shaking his head, and howling most
dolefully. The cry was much like that of a child, only louder and more
disagreeable. He was hungry. I went to him and I said, "Stop it." At
this he howled so it made my head ache. I picked him up, and with the
aid of a shingle, I gave him a spanking, just as you would a bad boy.
This stopped his howling, and then his master came and fed him.
After this spanking it was very evident that he did not care for my
acquaintance. He persistently refused to recognize me. As I approached
him his ears would go back, and his fur would rise. He had decided to
cut my acquaintance.
Some days after, I was watching a tennis game in the next yard,
standing with my back to baby bruin. He couldn't overlook the
opportunity to get even, and, watching his chance, he fastened his
teeth in the calf of my leg.
V.
THE BLACK BEAR OF CALIFORNIA.
_Ursus Californiensis._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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