BEARS.

In the days of Linnaeus--that is, a century and a half ago--it was

supposed there was only one kind of Bear in existence--the common Brown

bear of Europe. It is true that Linnaeus before his death had heard of

the great Polar bear, but he had never seen one, and was not certain of

its being a distinct species. Not only has the Polar bear proved to be

a very different animal from his brown congener, but other species have

turned up in remote quarters of the globe: until the list of these

interesting quadrupeds has been extended to the number of at least a

dozen distinct species--differing not only in size, shape, and colour,

but also in many more essential characteristics. Bears have been found

in North America, and others in South America; some in Asia, and still

others in the islands of the Indian Archipelago; entirely unlike the

brown bear of Europe, as they are to one another.

As the _Brown bear_ is the oldest of the family known to naturalists, I

shall give him the precedence in this little monograph.

It is a misnomer to call him the brown bear of Europe, since he is even

more common in many parts of Asia--especially throughout Asiatic Russia

and Kamtschatka. But he is also met with in most European countries,

where there are extensive ranges of mountains. In the mountains of

Hungary and Transylvania--as well as in those of Russia, Sweden, and

Norway--the brown bear is found. He is also met with as far south as

the Alps--and even the Pyrenees, and Asturias, mountains of Spain; but

the bear of these last-mentioned localities differs considerably from

the real brown bear of the northern regions; and most probably is a

different species.

Again, in North America--in a very remote and sterile region lying to

the westward of Hudson's Bay, and known as the Barren Grounds--a large

brown bear has been observed by travellers and traders of the Fur

Company, supposed to be identical with the European bear. This,

however, is a doubtful point; and in all likelihood the bear of the

Barren Grounds is a new species, only found in that desolate region.

The brown bear is of solitary habits. During the summer season he roams

about, growing fat upon roots, fruits, seeds, and wild honey--when he

can procure it. At the approach of winter this animal has the singular

habit of returning to his den, and there remaining dormant or torpid

throughout the season of cold. During this prolonged slumber he takes

no sustenance of any kind; and although exceedingly fat when going to

rest, he comes forth in the spring-time as thin as a skeleton. The den

is usually a cave or hollow tree; or, failing this, a _lair_, which the

animal constructs for himself out of branches, lining it snugly with

leaves and moss.

The brown bear is a long-lived animal. Individuals have been known of

the age of fifty years. The cubs when first born are not much larger

than the puppies of a mastiff. The people of Kamtschatka hunt this

species with great assiduity, and obtain from it many of the comforts

and necessaries of life. The skins are used for their beds and

coverlets, for their caps, gloves, and boots. They manufacture from it

harness for their dogs. From the intestines they make masks for their

faces, to protect them from the glare of the sun; and they also use the

latter stretched over their windows as a substitute for glass. The

flesh and fat are among the most esteemed dainties of a Kamtschatkan

_cuisine_. Even the shoulder-blades are used as sickles for cutting

grass. The Laplanders, also--of whose cold country the brown bear is an

inhabitant--have a great esteem for this animal. They regard its

prowess as something wonderful, alleging that it has the strength of ten

men, and the sense of twelve! The name for it, in their language,

signifies the dog of God.

The _White_, or _Polar bear_, is, perhaps, the most interesting of the

whole family: not so much on account of his superior size--since the

brown and the grizzly are sometimes as large as he--but rather from his

singular habits, and the many odd stories told about him, dining the

last fifty years, by whalers and Arctic explorers.

To describe the appearance of the Polar bear would be superfluous.

Everybody has seen either a living individual in a menagerie, or a

stuffed skin of one in a museum; and the long, low, tail-less body--with

outstretched neck and sharp projecting snout--covered with a thick coat

of white hair, renders it impossible to mistake the Polar bear for any

other animal.

This quadruped is more of a _sea_ than _land_ animal. Sometimes, it is

true, he wanders inland for fifty miles or so; but this he does in

following the course of some river or marshy inlet, where he finds fish.

His usual haunts are along the icy shores of the Arctic Ocean, and the

numerous ice-bound islands of the great Polar Sea. There he roams about

over the frozen banks, or floats upon icebergs and drifts; or, if need

be, takes to the open water, where he can swim with almost the facility

of a fish.

A proof of his natatory powers is found in the fact that Arctic voyagers

have observed him swimming about in the open sea full twenty miles from

the nearest land! He is equally expert as a diver; and uses this art

for the purpose of capturing various kinds of marine animals, upon which

he subsists. In regard to food, the Polar bear differs altogether from

his congeners. He is almost wholly carnivorous in his habits. Indeed,

were it otherwise, he could not exist in his icy kingdom--in many parts

of which not a trace of vegetation is to be found. Fish of many kinds,

birds, and their eggs, and four-footed beasts--when he can lay his claws

upon them--all are welcome to his palate. Nor will he disdain to feast

upon the carcass of the great whale--when chance, or the whale

fishermen, leaves such a provender in his way. The seal is a particular

favourite with him, and he hunts this creature with skill and assiduity.

When he perceives the seal basking upon a ledge of ice, he slips

quietly into the water, and swims to leeward of his intended victim. He

approaches by frequent short dives--so calculating his distance, that at

the last he comes up close to the spot where the seal is lying. Should

the victim attempt to escape, by rolling into the water, it falls into

the bear's clutches: if, on the contrary, it lies still, the bear makes

a powerful spring, seizes it on the ice, and then kills and devours it

at his leisure.

In swimming, the Polar bear not only moves rapidly through the water,

but is also capable of darting forward in such a way as to seize a fish

before it can escape beyond reach. On the land, also, he can move with

rapidity--his slouching trot being almost as fast as the gallop of a

horse.

Individuals have been shot that weighed as much as 1600 pounds!

Polar bears are found along the shores of the Arctic Ocean, both in Asia

and America. They do not go to sleep in winter--that is, the males do

not. The females with young, however, bury themselves in the snow--

having formed a lair--and there remain until they bring forth their

young. The cubs are often captured in these snow caves, which the

Esquimaux discover by means of dogs trained for this peculiar purpose.

The _Grizzly bear_ next merits attention. This formidable animal was,

for a long time, supposed to be a variety either of the brown bear of

Europe or the black bear of America; but his greater ferocity, so often

and fatally experienced by travellers, drew the attention of naturalists

upon him, when it was discovered that he was altogether distinct from

either of the two. His name is usually coupled with that of the Rocky

Mountains of America--for it is chiefly in the defiles and valleys of

this stupendous chain that he makes his home. He wanders, however, far

eastward over the prairies, and also to the Californian Mountains on the

west; and in a latitudinal direction from the borders of Texas on the

south, northward as far, it is supposed, as the shores of the Arctic

Sea. At all events, a bear somewhat like him, if not identically the

same, has been seen on the banks of the great Mackenzie River, near its

mouth. Perhaps it may be the brown bear of the Barren Grounds, already

noticed; and which last is, in many respects--in size and colour

especially--very similar to the grizzly.

The grizzly bear is certainly the most ferocious of his tribe--even

exceeding, in this unamiable quality, his white cousin of the icy north;

and many a melancholy tale of trapper and Indian hunter attests his

dangerous prowess. He is both carnivorous and frugivorous--will dig for

roots and eat fruits when within his reach; but not being a

tree-climber, he has to content himself with such berries as grow upon

the humbler bushes. Indeed, it is a fortunate circumstance that the

fierce animal is unable to ascend a tree. Many a traveller and hunter

have found a neighbouring tree the readiest means of saving their lives,

when pursued by this ferocious assailant. Another circumstance is also

in favour of those pursued by the grizzly bear. In the region where he

dwells, but few persons ever go afoot; and although the bear can

overtake a pedestrian, his speed is no match for that of the friendly

horse.

It is almost hopeless to think of killing a grizzly bear by a single

bullet. There the deadly rifle is no longer deadly--unless when the

shot is given in a mortal part; and to take sure aim from the saddle,

with a horse dancing in affright, is a feat which even the most skilful

marksman cannot always accomplish. As many as a dozen bullets have been

fired into the body of a grizzly bear, without killing him outright.

The strength of this animal equals his ferocity. He pulls the huge

buffalo, a thousand pounds in weight, to the ground; and then drags its

carcass to some cave or crevice among the rocks, or to a hole which he

has dug to receive it. To this place he repairs from time to time, till

the exhausted store compels him to go in search of a new victim. Many

an incident can be related--and on the best authority too--where man has

been the victim of the grizzly bear; and the Indians esteem the killing

of one of these animals a feat equal to that of taking the scalp of a

human enemy. One of the proudest ornaments of a savage chief is a

necklace of bears' claws: only to be worn by those who have themselves

killed the animals from which they have been taken.

The _Black_, or _American bear_, is one of the best known of the family;

and on account of his clean smooth head, tapering muzzle, and rich black

fur, he is also one of the best looking of bears. He is found

throughout the whole of the United States territory--from the Canadas to

the Gulf of Mexico--and westward to the shores of the Pacific. He is

sometimes met with in the same neighbourhood with the grizzly, but not

often: since their haunts are essentially unlike--the black bear being a

denizen of the heavy-timbered forest, while the other frequents the

grassy hills or coppice-openings of the prairies and mountain valleys.

The black bear is a tree-climber; and ascends the loftiest trees in

search of the honey of the wild bees, or to make his lair in some

cavernous hollow of the trunks. His food is usually fruits and roots,

but he is also fond of young corn, and often commits serious

depredations on the maize plantation. In the backwood settlements,

where clearings are apart from each other, the black bear is still

occasionally met with; and the chase of this animal is one of the most

favourite pastimes of the backwoods' hunter, whether amateur or

professional. Generally there is little peril in the pursuit--unless

when the bear is wounded and enraged, and the hunter chooses to risk

himself at close quarters.

There are varieties in colour. Some with white throats, and some of a

cinnamon brown, have been observed; but the colour of the species is

usually jet black; and on this account the skins are much prized for

military and other purposes.

The _Spectacled bear_ is a native of South America, and frequents the

forests upon the declivities of the Andes. This was long supposed to be

a variety of the black bear, but later observations prove it to be a

different species. Its habits are very similar to the last, to which it

is also similar in shape. In colour it differs essentially. It is

black, but with a buff snout, and buff rings round the eyes, which give

it that appearance whence it derives its trivial name. Its throat and

breast are whitish.

There is at least one other species of black bear indigenous to South

America, inhabiting the tropical forests; but very little is known of

it--further than that it is one of the smallest of the tribe.

We now reach the Asiatic bears, properly so called; and we have only

space to say a word about each.

The _Siberian bear_ is thought to be only a variety of the brown bear of

Europe, differing slightly in colour. In the former there is a broad

band, or collar, of white passing over the neck and meeting upon the

breast. It is, as its name implies, an inhabitant of Siberia.

The _Thibet bear_ is a dweller among the Himalayas--in Sylhet and

Nepaul. Its general colour is black, with a white mark, shaped like the

letter Y; so placed that the shank of the letter is upon its breast, and

the forks running up the front of its shoulders. It is not carnivorous,

and, generally, its disposition is harmless and playful. It is easily

tamed.

The _Sloth bear_ is another Indian species having this peculiar marking

on the breast and shoulders. This animal is one of the oddest of

creatures. Its short limbs and depressed head, with the long shaggy

hair surmounting its back like a bullock, give it the appearance of

being deformed. On this account it was the favourite of the Indian

jugglers, who, depending on its ugliness as a source of attraction,

trained it to a variety of tricks. It is therefore sometimes known as

the jugglers' bear (_Ours jongleur_). It has also a peculiar prehensile

power in its lips; and this, with its general shaggy mien, led to the

belief of its being a species of sloth--hence its common name.

The _Malayan bear_ is another black species, with a marking on the

breast. This mark is of a semi-lunar shape, and whitish; but the colour

of the muzzle is buff-yellow. This is a very handsome species,

subsisting on vegetable diet; and very injurious to the plantations of

young cocoa trees, of the shoots of which it is very fond. It is also a

honey eater; and roams about in quest of the hives of the indigenous

bees. It is a native of Malacca, Sumatra, and others of the East Indian

islands.

The _Isabella bear_ is so called from its colour--being of that fulvous

white known as Isabella colour. It is another of the species belonging

to the great range of the Himalayas, and is found in the mountains of

Nepaul. Sometimes it is observed of nearly a white colour; which led to

the mistaken belief that Polar bears existed in the Himalayas.

The _Syrian bear_ is a species found in the mountainous parts of Asia

Minor. It is of a fulvous-brown colour, sometimes approaching to

yellowish white. It is partly carnivorous, but feeds also on fruits;

and is most remarkable as being the species first mentioned in books--

that is, it is the bear of the Bible.

The _Bornean bear_ is the last to be mentioned, though it is certainly

one of the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful, of the genus.

This beauty arises from its peculiar markings, especially from the large

patch of rich orange colour upon the breast. It is a native of the

great Island of Borneo, and little is known of its habits; but it is

supposed to resemble the Malayan bear in these, as it does in many other

respects.

In Africa there are no bears.