that foxes did not kill sheep, though the visiting Johnstone (1822) refers in passing to foxes taking lambs. As for their natural food, according to Bain (1890), it was “young birds and quadrapeds”, while MacGregor (1828) more vaguely mentions that they fed ”in the woods or along the shore”. The bear — The black bear (Ursus americanus) was recorded by all of the list-makers (Table 2-1), several of whom devoted a paragraph or more to it, and especially to its interactions with the island’s human population. It would seem that in the early years bears were abundant on the island: for example, in February 1780 Ritter recorded that soldiers in his regiment were shooting the bears that came near their huts at Charlottetown“, while in 1793 Shuttleworth, living at Morell, reported that bears "swarmed to a degree that [he] could not have believed”“4. However, thirty years later Johnstone (1822) believed they were ”decreasing in numbers greatly” and the ”few of them yet in the woods”, were only ”seen occasionally by the inhabitants”. He added that ”in all the solitary journeys that [he had] made through the largest woods upon the island” he had not seen a single living bear. MacGregor (1828) similarly reported that "their numbers are now much reduced, and a bear is rarely met with". By 1856 Bird could say they were ”rapidly disappearing”, while five years later Bagster (1861) noted that, though "not yet extinct”, the few that remained ”seldom showed themselves. The wording of the question on bears in the Questionnaire of 1876: "Were there many bears fifty years ago?" — implies that by then they were largely a past phenomenon. From Bain (1890), it would seem that by the end of the nineteenth century they were restricted to ”the large wooded tracts in the eastern and western c0unties”.45 Beginning as early as Stewart in 1806 several writers were predicting the bear’s ‘3 That is, if we presume that the temporary barracks housing the von Knyphausen Regiment were within the town. “ A similar comment was recorded by Bishop Plessis in 1812 who said “on en voit en plus grande nombre qu'on ne devrait s'y attendre" [they are seen in greater numbers than one would expect]. It is also interesting that forty-four years after Shuttleworth's comment, Carrington (1837) while staying at Shuttleworth's old house at Morell, noted that “bears are said to be frequently seen in this neighbourhood“. Some of the reminiscences published in The Presbyterian in 1877 and 1878 also imply that bears were once abundant in the early days ([Lawson] 1877-1878). ‘5 [Lawson] (1877-1878) stated that bears were still numerous in the west of the province — Lots 12, 13 and 14, and the Miminegash area are specifically mentioned, and it may be that it was in such areas that an anonymous travel writer (Anon. 1877) was told that “black bears are quite numerous in the tangled depths of the primeval forest". 244 impending extirpation“. It is thus very surprising that the last recorded killing of a bear on Prince Edward Island took place as late as 1927‘”. There was an almost total antipathy to the bear, which seems to have been largely due to its habit of taking livestock, a habit not discouraged by the fact that in new settlements, farm animals ranged freely in the woods. Sheep are most frequently mentioned as being taken“, followed by pigs49 and cattle”. These attacks seem to have been greater in the early years, Stewart in 1806 recording that ”the quantity of black cattle, sheep and hogs destroyed by them annually is considerable”. However, later reports suggest that such predation was only occasional“, presumably due to the decline in the bear population. Bain (1890) also reported that bears could do ”great damage” by feeding on oats in the field. In terms of their danger to people, the general consensus among the recorders was that bears avoided humans and only attacked when threatened, or when with cubs“. All the same, it was the perception of the bear as a potential danger, based on perhaps a few rare incidents, that greatly added to the human antipathy towards them.53 In fact even in the early years the list of 46 Stewart (1806): “in less than half a century I have no doubt but the bears will be entirely extirpated"; Hill 1839: “those that remain will soon disappear“; Bagster 1861. ‘7 Hornby (1988). The bear was shot at the Souris Line Road. As Hornby reports, the finding of a bear on the island in the third decade of the twentieth century came as quite a surprise at the time, since the species had long been considered to have been extirpated. It indicates how secretive and elusive bears could be. The particular bear was only given away by its tracks in the snow when crossing a road in the area. ‘8 Patterson 1770; M’Robert 1776; Stewart 1806; Plessis 1812; Johnstone 1822; MacGregor 1828; Hill 1839; Census 1841; Bagster 1861; Sutherland 1861; Questionnaire 1876; [Lawson] 1877-1878; Bain 1890; Macphail 1939. ‘9 M'Robert 1776; Stewart 1806; Plessis 1812; MacGregor 1828; Hill 1839; Questionnaire 1876; [Lawson] 1877-1878. Johnstone (1822) (p. 155, not extracted) also refers to a “bear incident' involving pigs. 5° Shuttleworth 1793; Stewart 1806; Plessis 1812; Johnstone 1822; MacGregor 1828; Anon. 1836; Census 1841; Questionnaire 1876; [Lawson] 1877-1878. 5‘ Johnstone 1822; MacGregor 1828. 52 Stewart 1806; MacGregor 1828; Bagster 1861; Sutherland 1861; Questionnaire 1876; Bain 1890. 53 See Hornby (1987) for stories circulating in the past, and even up to the present, about bears attacking, and even killing people (many of Hornby's stories come from [Lawson] (1877-1878), some of which I have extracted). However Hornby was unable to verify any of the supposed fatalities — all were hearsay and/or