Since the publication of the original work I have received the
following particulars from M. de Musly, a major in the service of the
States General. He says, that at Berne, they have several bears in a
kind of domestic state, which are kept in large square ditches lined
at the sides and bottom with stone, and where they have room to walk
about they have dens made for them, which are also paved, on a level
with the bottom of the ditch; these are divided into two by walls, and
are occasionally shut with iron gates; troughs of fresh water are set
for them in each ditch, and holes are left in the pavement sufficient
to set up large trees on an end. Thirty-one years since two young brown
bears were brought thither from Savoy, the male of which was killed by
a fall from one of the trees into the ditch about two months ago (this
account is dated October 17, 1771), and the female is still alive. At
the age of five years they began to generate, and from that time they
regularly came in season in the month of June, and the female brought
forth in January. The first time, she had only one; since she has had
from one to three, but never more; the three last years she had one
each time, and the man who looks after her thinks she is now pregnant.
When first whelped they are yellow, and white round the neck, and have
not the smallest appearance of bears; they are blind four weeks; they
measure about eight inches at first, and at the end of three months
fourteen or fifteen; they are then almost round, and have a sharp
pointed snout; they are by no means strong until they are full grown,
before which time the white hair is quite gone, having decreased by
degrees, and the yellow is changed into a brown.
The male and female sometimes fight furiously, growling horribly at
each other, but when in season the latter generally gets the better.
The ditches in which these two bears were formerly kept, being to be
filled up, they were necessarily separated for a few hours while
removing to the other ditches prepared for them; on their meeting again
they raised themselves on their hind legs, and embraced each other in
a kind of rapture; and upon the death of the male, the female was much
affected, and refused to eat for several days. But this attachment
is not common to them, for unless brought up and fed together from
very young cubs they cannot bear each other; yet after living thus
together, the survivor will not admit the approaches of another. They
are very fond of climbing the trees put into the ditches, which are
green larches, and placed there every May. They are commonly fed with
rye-bread soaked in water; and they will eat all sorts of fruits. When
the female is near her time, she is furnished with plenty of straw,
which she appropriates for her use, and then the male is removed, lest
he should devour the young ones; they are allowed to remain with their
mother for the space of ten weeks, when they are removed, and fed for
some time with bread and biscuit.
M. de Musly afterwards informed me that the female they had thought
pregnant was supplied with straw at the necessary time, but though she
made a bed and rested upon it for three weeks, she did not bring forth
anything; therefore the last time she brought forth she had but one,
and was at the age of thirty-one years. He likewise adds, that there
are brown bears on Mount Jura, in Franche-comté, and in the county of
Gex, which come into the plains in autumn, and do great damage in the
chesnut woods.
There are two species of bears in Norway, one of which is much smaller
than the other; in both there are different colours, such as dark
and light brown, grey, and every shade of white, at least so says
Pontoppidan; and also that they retire to the dens which they have
prepared in October. Being very formidable, when wounded, three or
four hunters usually go together, and as he easily kills large dogs,
they use small ones, which run under his belly and seize him by the
genitals; when nearly overpowered, he places himself against a tree,
and throws tufts or stones at his foes, until he is dispatched.
In the menagerie of Chantilly there is an American bear, with fine,
soft, straight black hair, whose head is longer, and snout shorter than
the bears of Europe. And M. de Bertram mentions a bear that was killed
near St. John's river in East Florida, which was seven feet long,
weighed 400lbs. and from which 60 Paris pints of oil were drawn.