782 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XII. 



I think I have written quite enough for the present, so will cloae my paper. 

 Should I obtain sufficient material, I may be tempted to write more on an- 

 other occasion. 



R.M. BETHAM, Capt., 



PooNA, Uh Sept. 1899. 8th Bombay Infantry. 



No. XXV— WINTER SLEEP OF BEARS. 



With reference to Mr. Donald's note on the hibernation of brown and 

 black bears in the last namber of the Journal, it is to be regretted that he 

 omitted to state whether his informant from Kulu was a European or a 

 native ; and also whetber he went quite close up to the biown bear, which 

 he noticed in a hollow tree. If the bear was in a real state of hibernation 

 it could have been touched without a'ly danger of its awaking, for in true 

 hibernation the body is quite cold — rigid— and with but slight sign of respira- 

 tion. Of course all hill bears may be found asleep in hollow trees durin',' the 

 day at all times of the year, but whether they truly hibernate has yet, I think, 

 to be proved. This special state I b«lieve must greatly depend on the exact 

 amount of fat they put on during the autumn, and much more on these cir- 

 cumstances than on the elevation they may find themselves as winter sets in. 

 I have shot a brown bear in late autumn with but little fat on his body, and 

 before the heavy snow commenced to fall it would have been scarcely possi- 

 ble for him to have accumulated enough for real hibernation during some 

 four months. Black Himalayan bears haVc frequently been seen and shot in 

 mid-winter by Europeans ; and the hill people of Chamba have told me that 

 black bears usually come down to the lower valleys as winter approaches, but 

 occasionally they have also been noticed prowling about the high situated 

 valleys in January, sometimes breaking their v. ay into houses in search of 

 grain, I belifive hill bears eat a great deal of soft dead wood, and this would 

 be procurable in the upper forests for the bears during the winter months. 

 The brown bear of Russia does not truly hibernate during the winter, 

 although the cold is intense and the whole country is deep in snow. The 

 bears remain often for a long time sleeping in brushwood shelters, from which 

 they move out now and then in search of food. While dozing in the shelter 

 very little noise disturbs them j on the other hand the black bear of North 

 America can scarcely be roused from his torpid condition during winter, 

 which points to a true state of hibernation in his case. 



G, S. RODON, Major. 



Dharwar, Ath September, 1899. 



No. XXVI.— POSSIBLE OCCURRENCE OF THE GREAT SNIPE 

 {GALLIN AGO MAJOR) NEAR MADRAS. 



On the evening of the 5th instant, a local shikari brought in four snipes for 

 sale, one of these was a large bird, more than twice the size of the others ((r. 

 atenura), I considered it to be G. solitaria after a hasty examination, length 



