248 



THE BEASTS OF PREY. 



under the root of a fallen pine, slipped over a pros- 

 trate aspen tree and his hind quarters had sunk 

 rather deep into the swamp. Finally he made for 

 the drier ground of a pine wood near by and disap- 

 peared, his pursuit being abandoned at this point." 

 The Brown As l° n g as the Bear has vegetable 

 Bear in Search food in abundance he confines him- 

 0/ Prey. se if to it; but when driven by neces- 

 sity, or when he has become accustomed to animal 

 food, he occasionally develops into a predaceous 

 animal in the full sense of the word. He tries to 

 sneak up to his prey; but he is also said to tire 

 out Cattle by pursuit, or, when they graze on high 

 mountains to disperse and drive them over prec- 

 ipices, which he then cautiously descends and eats 

 his fill below. Success increases his boldness. In 

 the Ural mountain region the Bear is accounted the 

 worst enemy of Horses. Drivers and coachmen 

 sometimes refuse to go through a forest at night, 

 though it is probable that it hardly ever happens 

 that a Bear attacks Horses harnessed to a carriage. 

 Those, however, that graze at liberty in the forest 

 are never secure from him. A friend of mine, Von 

 Beckmann, an expert Bear-hunter, told me how the 

 animal proceeds in his attack, having personally wit- 

 nessed the encounter. Several Horses were grazing 

 near a swampy thicket, in full view of the hidden 

 hunter. A Bear made his appearance in the thicket, 

 and slowly crept up to the Horses, until they noticed 

 him and fled in great haste. The Bear followed 

 them with enormous bounds, overtook one of the 

 Horses in a surprisingly short time, gave it a blow 

 on the back with one paw, a blow on the face with 

 the other, threw it down and tore its breast open. 

 When he saw that among the fleeing animals one 

 was lame and could not escape, he left the killed 

 prey, ran after the second victim, easily reached it 

 and killed it also. Both the Horses uttered fearful 

 outcries. 



When the Bear has become bold, he also ap- 

 proaches stables and tries to break the doors, or, 

 as has repeatedly happened in Scandinavia, he un- 

 covers the roofs. He is so exceedingly strong that 

 he can carry even large animals away. Kxementz 

 gives several examples of the exceeding strength of 

 the Bears. One Bear broke pine poles that were 

 three and four inches thick; another took a Cow 

 that had just received her death-blow and was still 

 struggling, with his fore-paws and carried her across 

 a small river in a forest, walking on his hind-legs. 

 A keeper of the forest, who was sitting at a fire, was 

 attacked by a Bear, which had been frightened out 

 of his hibernation. The Man had his skull crushed 

 by a single blow from the Bear's fore-paw, so that 

 instant death ensued. A fourth Bear dragged a 

 living Deer out of a pit into which it had fallen. 

 The Deer weighed about six hundred pounds and 

 the Bear dragged it through the swamp for about 

 one-third of a mile. It is probable that Deer often 

 escape a Bear's pursuit by their vigilance and speed; 

 still he often follows even Reindeer in the north of 

 Scandinavia for a long distance. He also preys on 

 fishes and follows the course of rivers for miles 

 intent on catching the finny prey. 



Hibernation At the approach of winter the Bear 

 of the prepares a resting place between 



Brown Bear, rocks or in caverns which he either 

 finds ready for his use or excavates for himself; or 

 in a hollow tree; or frequently chooses a retreat in 

 the thicket, or on a dry island in a swamp. When 

 severe cold weather sets in, the Bear settles down 



in his winter quarters and then sleeps through the 

 cold season. The time when he begins his hiberna- 

 tion varies according to the climate of the locality 

 and the weather. A female Bear usually retires as 

 early as the beginning of November, but the male 

 Bear, heedless of cold weather and the amount of 

 snow, still roams about in the middle of December, 

 as 1 saw myself by his spoor in Croatia. Accord- 

 ing to Russian Bear-hunters, he thoroughly investi- 

 gates the surroundings of his den before going to 

 sleep, and shifts his quarters if he finds human 

 tracks in different directions. If the snow begins to 

 thaw in the middle of the winter, he leaves his den, 

 even in Russia and Siberia, to drink or eat. It is an 

 established fact, that he lies under the snow for 

 three or four months in Livonia, taking no nourish- 

 ment whatever, and is found with an entirely empty 

 digestive tract if killed during this period. 



If the winter is mild, his rest is perhaps not pro- 

 longed more than a few weeks, and beneath gentler 

 skies he probably never thinks of a winter's retreat at 

 all. Observations of captive Bears seem to indicate 

 this, for these Bears do not hibernate, and behave in 

 winter exactly as they do in summer. While they 

 are given their food regularly, they eat nearly as 

 much as at other times, and during a mild winter 

 they sleep only a little more than in summer. 



The Mother A litter of young Bears usually num- 

 Bear and bers two or three, sometimes one or 

 Her Young. f ouri an d very seldom five Cubs at a 

 birth. As a rule the mother prepares a complete 

 nest for them, but it has also been observed that she 

 occasionally placed them simply on the snow. If 

 danger threatens her offspring, she sometimes car- 

 ries them far away in her mouth. It is a surprising 

 fact, that the mother often deserts her Cubs, when 

 hard pressed, while they are still very small and 

 helpless, but courageously defends them when they 

 have become larger and stronger. In the latter case 

 she considers herself an autocrat of the whole 

 locality which she has selected as her place of 

 abode, and meets every disturbing element with an 

 immediate attack. Some she- Bears become the 

 terror of all who have to pass through their domain 

 and may even suspend communication on a road; 

 and whoever enters their neighborhood without 

 Dogs, risks being wounded or killed. In their 

 fourth month the Cubs are large enough to follow 

 their mother about ; then she diligently teaches 

 them to climb and to find their food, and instructs 

 them in many branches of knowledge necessary to 

 a Bear's education. 



Young Bears when they are finally deserted by 

 their mother, are said to stay around the old den 

 during the summer, and make use of it in bad 

 weather, until they are driven away; they also like to 

 associate with other young Bears. Accounts of Rus- 

 sian peasants and hunters, first published by Evers- 

 mann and yet lacking confirmation, throw a pecu- 

 liar light on these associations. They affirm that a 

 Bear-mother employs her older children as nurses 

 of the younger ones, if necessary using force, and 

 the two year old Bears which run around with their 

 mother, brothers and sisters are simply called 

 " Pestun," that is, " child's nurse." Eversmann 

 relates the following story of a Bear family which 

 crossed the Kama: "When the mother had reached 

 the other side, she saw that the Pestun was slowly 

 coming after her, instead of helping his younger 

 brother and sister, which still were on the other 

 side. As soon as he reached the shore, the mother 



