IOO MAMMALS

actually running away from me.’ But at the same
time, once he is attacked or begins an attack, the
grizzly will fight to the last. In the south the grizzly
does not hibernate ; in the north he does. Like the
jaguar he cleans his claws on trees, but the marks he
thus leaves give no clue as to his height, as they are
generally made when he awakes in the spring, and
there are two or three feet of snow on the ground for
him to stand on.

The American black bear (U. americanus) is
rarely over five feet long. He used to range over
all North America, but he is now found only in
mountains and swamps. In the south, according to
Mr. James Gordon, ‘the bear usually makes his bed
in the most impenetrable cane brake. He cuts and
piles up heaps of cane until he has a comfortable
spring mattress. He is very fastidious in his taste,
and will not remain long in a wet bed ; so after every
spell of bad weather he changes his quarters. In diet
he has a wide, almost omnivorous, taste. In the
summer he is very destructive to the farmer’s corn-
fields, showing a decided relish for green corn or
roasting ears, or fat pig or mutton as a side-dish, not
refusing a pumpkin by way of dessert. As the fall
season approaches, he climbs after the wild grape, the
succulent muscadine, the acorn and the persimmon,
and leaves his sign everywhere he travels in heaps
of hulls of pecan and scaly-bark hickory nuts. This
is called the lapping season, as he ensconces him-
self in a tree-lap and breaks the limbs to pieces in
gathering nuts and fruits. He is also excessively
fond of honey, and is utterly regardless of bee-stings