THE LABI ATE D BEAR. 



81 



sons of those who sold them. Both the eggs and the ants 

 are brought to Moscow as food for nightingales, which are 

 favourite though common birds in Russian houses. They 

 sing, in every respect, as beautifully in cages as in their 

 native woods. We often heard them in the bird-shops war- 

 bling with all the fulness and variety of tone which charac- 

 terizes the nightingale in its natural state/' — Dr. Clarke's 

 Travels in Russia. 



The LABIATED BEAR. (Ursus labiatus, Blainville.) 



Of all bears the labiated or sloth bear presents the rudest 

 and most shapeless figure. One might suppose that our great 

 countryman Ray had had this species especially under his 

 eye when he characterized * the ursine genus. The whole of 

 its body and legs are concealed beneath a coat of long, coarse, 



* " Totum ejus corpus tarn denso pilorum crassorum vellere undique ob- 

 tegitur et occultatur, ut rudis quaedam indigestaque moles potius quam 

 animal membris distinctum esse videatur, ut non injuria a Virgilio informe 

 appelletur." — Synops. Quadruped, p. 171 ' 1693. 



Zool. Mag. No. 3. g 



