THE FLESH-EATING PREDATORY MAMMALS 133 



The length of a good specimen of European bear may be as 

 much as 8 ft. from the tip of the snout to the root of the 

 tail. The tail in all existing bears is reduced to a mere stump, 

 and is, perhaps, longest in the polar bear. In the brown bear 

 the tail does not exceed 3 in. in length. 



The Brown Bear hibernates in the colder districts of Europe 

 and Northern Asia, retiring into some cavern or safe retreat and 

 sleeping until April, in which month the cubs are usually born. 

 These very seldom exceed two in number, and are born blind and 

 naked, being unable to see till about three weeks after birth. 



It is a relatively silent animal ; snarling, growling, and 

 whining with its companions, but not, as a rule, uttering any 

 cry that can be heard at a distance. When disturbed by man, 

 it gives vent to a loud, gruff bark. The bear can climb trees, 

 and is a good swimmer. Its diet is almost omnivorous. 



The present range of the brown bear extends over almost 

 the whole of Europe, except those regions which are thickly 

 inhabited by man, and over all Asia, except such parts as lie 

 within the tropics. In North-east Asia the brown bear almost 

 grades into the great grizzly bear of North America, or the 

 splendid chocolate-coloured Alaska bear. In England the brown 

 bear has existed since the Pleistocene Epoch. Its distribution 

 throughout England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland seems to have 

 been almost universal. Caledonian bears from Northern Scotland 

 were sent to Rome for the sports of the Circus. The creature 

 appears to have become practically extinct in Scotland^ (as a 

 wild animal), and equally in Ireland, before the eighth century. 

 In the northern parts of England it may have lingered till about 

 the commencement of the ninth century. Later on it was 

 reintroduced as a tame animal from the Continent, and used in 

 mediaeval sports down to a relatively recent period. 



It seems to be hardly determined with certainty that the 

 grizzly bear {Ursus horribilis) of North America is distinct as 

 a species from the brown bear. Extreme forms of both differ 



^ Bell states, in his British Quadrupeds, that wild bears may have existed 

 in Scotland as late as the year 1073. 



