Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 February 1883 — The Bear Not in Winter Society. [ARTICLE]

The Bear Not in Winter Society.

like the hedgehog, the bear depends entirely upon its accumulation of fat, and during the fall is in prime condition, when, in October or November, it enters upon its winter home. One of these.nests of the black bear, found by the writer several miles from Lake Utowana, in the Adirondaoks, was beneath a huge tree, four or five of whose great roots branched out on each side. The earth had been removed on the south side, the interior lined with leaves, twigs* and other refuse matter that would make a oomfortable bed, and, covered with snow in a dense jungle, tiie animal had perfect security. Soon after the bear has retired the intestines shrink and become clogged or hardened with a substance known as tappan, in reality pine leaves and the banc of fir trees that they eat immediately prior to entering upon the state of hibernation, that remains in position until spring, and so slow is the exhaustion of fat, that is now the food-supply, that .animals have been found five months after their involuntary intombment as *fat as when they went in. During the sleep the skin .upon the balls of the feet is renewed. The males of the polar bear do not hibernate, a fact proved by the late polar expedition of the yacht *Eira.