Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 March 1893 — Interesting to Naturalists. [ARTICLE]

Interesting to Naturalists.

Along Grisly Bear river, in the Rockies, there are many bear haunts or wintering dens, which the Indian guides point out to travelers. According to Indian stories, a bear will lie in a dark and secluded retreat -all winter without food or nourishment, sucking its paws. The bear does not burrow in the ground, but covers himself with fallen leaves. Over the den the snow is often many feet deep, and the bear’s hiding place is only discovered by an air hole, so small that nothing but the keen eyes of the savage could find it. The Indians say that the Rocky Mountain bear lie thus in a torpid state from December until March.