[132] Ursus americanus Pallas. This species inhabits all the region west of Hudson Bay nearly or quite to the limit of trees, though it is rare near the border of the woods.
[BZ] The insects here spoken of are of two kinds; the one is nearly black, its skin hard like a beetle, and not very unlike a grasshopper, and darts through the water with great ease, and with some degree of velocity. The other sort is brown, has wings, and is as soft as the common cleg-fly. The latter are the most numerous; and in some of the lakes such quantities of them are forced into the bays in gales of wind, and there pressed together in such multitudes, that they are killed, and remain there a great nuisance; for I have several times, in my inland voyages from York Fort, found it scarcely possible to land in some of those bays for the intolerable stench of those insects, which in some places were lying in putrid masses to the depth of two or three feet. It is more than probable, that the Bears occasionally feed on these dead insects.
[133] The insects here referred to are mainly May-flies (Ephemeridæ), which are washed up along the shores of the lakes in this region in incredible quantities, and are eaten by the bears, as Hearne says.
[CA] It is common for the Southern Indians to tame and domesticate the young cubs; and they are frequently taken so young that they cannot eat. On those occasions the Indians oblige their wives who have milk in their breasts to suckle them. And one of the Company's servants, whose name is Isaac Batt, willing to be as great a brute as his Indian companions, absolutely forced one of his wives, who had recently lost her infant, to suckle a young Bear.
[134] By brown bears, Hearne probably refers to the brown or cinnamon phase of the black bear. This colour phase, which is often spoken of as if constituting a distinct species, is rare near the northern border of the range of the animal.
[135] Ursus richardsoni Swainson. See ante, p. 181.
[136] Gulo luscus (Linn.). This powerful freebooter ranges north to the extremity of the continent, and has been detected in a few instances on the islands of the Arctic Sea.
[CB] Mr. Graham says they take their lodging in the clefts of rocks, or in hollow trees. The former I acknowledge, but I believe that neither Mr. Graham nor any of the Company's servants ever saw an instance of the latter. In fact, during all my travels in the interior parts of Hudson's Bay, I never saw a hollow tree that was capable of affording shelter to any larger animal than martins, jackashes, or wejacks; much less the quiquehatch or Bear, as some have asserted.
[This statement is from Pennant, "Arct. Zool.," i. p. 68, 1784, and given on the authority of Mr. Graham.]
[137] Lutra canadensis (Schreber). This valuable fur-bearer is found throughout the wooded country, but is rare near the borders of the forest.