8 J. E. HAETING ANIMALS TVHICH HAVE BECOME 



that the bear was formerly reckoned amongst the beasts of the 

 chase, and that its flesh was esteemed equally with that of the hare 

 and the wild boar. — " Summam seu prcecipuce (Bstimationis ferinam 

 esse, ursi, leporis, et apri.'''' 



Many places in "Wales, says Pennant, still retain the name of 

 Penarth, or " the bear's head," another evidence of their existence 

 in our country. 



But so far as history informs us, it would seem that Scotland, 

 and more particularly the Caledonian forest, was the great strong- 

 hold of our British bears. Bishop Leslie says that that great wood 

 was once " refertissimam^'' — full of them. 



Camden, too, writing of Perthshire, observes : " This Athole 

 .... is a country fruitful enough, having woody vallies, where 

 once the Caledonian forest (dreadful for its dark intricate windings 

 and for its dens of bears, and its huge wild, thick-maned bulls) . . 

 extended itself far and near in these parts." 



After the occupation of Britain by the Romans, Caledonian bears 

 seem to have been perfectly well known in Eome. We learn from 

 Martial that they were used for the purpose of tormenting male- 

 factors, of which we have an instance in the fate of Laureolus : — 



' ' Nuda Caledonio sic pectora prrebiiit ui'so 

 Noil falsa pendens in cruce Laureolus," — 



which may be Englished : — 



" Thus Laureolus on no ideal cross suspended 

 Presents his nude body to the Caledonian bear." 



Plutarch, too, assures us "that they transported bears from Britain 

 to Eome, where they held them in great admiration." How these 

 bears were captured, and in what way they were transported to the 

 coast and shipped on boai'd the Roman galleys, must, we fear, for 

 ever remain matters for speculation. We do not even know the 

 precise period atwhich these very hazardous consignments were made, 

 but it may be assumed to have been probably somewhat before the 

 time that wolf-dogs were being exported to Rome, which we know 

 was about the latter end of the fourth century. A Roman consul 

 of that day, Symmachus by name, writing to his brother Plavianus 

 over here, thanks him for a present which he had made him of some 

 dogs which he calls Canes Scotici, and which were shown at the 

 Circensian games to the great astonishment of the people, who 

 could not believe it possible to bring them to Rome otherwise than 

 in iron cages. It was no doubt in iron cages that the bears were 

 transported. 



When this animal became extinct in Britain is uncertain. Pro- 

 fessor Boyd Dawkins thinks it must have been extirpated probably 

 before the tenth century. The story quoted by Pennant from a 

 history of the Gordons, to the effect that in 1057 a Gordon, in 

 reward for his valour in killing a fierce bear, was directed by the 

 King to carry three bears' heads on his banner, seems to be alto- 

 gether a fallacy, being unsupported by any documentary evidence. 

 Moreover, the arms of the Gordons happen to be boars' not bears' 



