File:The black bear (1910) (14777350552).jpg

Identifier: cu31924067868897 (find matches)
Title: The black bear
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: Wright, William H. (William Henry), 1856-1934
Subjects: Black bear
Publisher: New York, C. Scribner's sons
Contributing Library: Cornell University Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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paw of the Black Bear the pad is noticea-bly rounded in front and somewhat hollowed out be-hind and is, in a general way, rather kidney-shaped.It does not show the dent that is so plainly seen on theoutside of the grizzlys front paw, and the front edge ofit is much narrower. Also, when the track is perfect,the distance between the impress of the toes and theimpress of the tips of the claws is much less. On the hind paw of the Black Bear the front of thepad is also more rounded than that of the grizzly andthe heel is blunt instead of pointed. Another differencein shape is shown by the fact that a straight line drawnthrough the middle toe and along the axis of the footwill, in the Black Bears track, exactly hit the heel, whilein the grizzlys track it will fall well to the outside ofthe heel. The Black Bears hind paw is also more deeplydented at the instep than that of the grizzly. The feet of the Black Bear are stockier than those ofthe grizzly and more powerfully muscled—probably as
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Description and Distribution 63 a result of the animals climbing habits. On the otherhand their fore legs do not show the wonderful muscu-lar development that is one of the marked character-istics of Ursus horribilis. The Black Bear received its name informally, as itwere, from the early settlers of New England, where theoverwhelming majority of the species happened to beblack and where, by dint of saying, I saw a blackbear in the woods this afternoon, people came to referto the animal as the Black Bear. Later on the namewas sanctioned by scientific baptism and the animalbecame officially known as the American Black Bear.The designation, however, as we have seen, is by nomeans universally descriptive. In the East, and inthe Middle West, an occasional brown specimen is metwith. But when the Rocky Mountain region is reachedthere is a bewildering variation in the coloring of thespecies. The majority of the breed are still black, butat least a quarter and perhaps a third of the specimensm

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