24 EXTINCT BRITISH ANIMALS. 
time.* Sir William Wilde asserts that he discovered 
an Irish name for the Bear in an old glossary in the 
library of Trinity College, Dublin ; and it is remark- 
able that the name to which he refers, ‘ maghgham- 
hainn” (corrupted into ‘ math-ghamhainn,” which, 
as already explained, conveys a different signification), 
is identical with the Gaelic name for the animal still 
preserved in traditions of the Highlands. 
When the Bear became extinct in Britain is un- 
certain. Prof. Boyd Dawkins thinks it must have 
been extirpated probably before the tenth century.t 
The story quoted by Pennant? from a history of the 
Gordon family,§ 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, is altogether a fallacy. Reference to a 
copy of the original Latin MS. from which the 
translation quoted by Pennant was made (preserved 
in the Advocates’ Library, Edinburgh) shows that the 
animal killed was a Boar, “‘¢mmanem aprum.” More- 
over, the arms of the Gordons happen to be Boars’, 
not Bears’ heads. The difference of one letter only 
in the name might easily account for a mistake 
which has been since blindly copied by many writers. 
As our ancestors, says Jamieson, called the boar 
bare, by a curious inversion the bear is universally 
denominated by the vulgar a boar. 
* “Nat, Hist. Ireland,” vol. iv. p. 33. 
+ “Cave Hunting,” p. 75. 
t “British Zoology,” vol. i. p. 91 (ed. 1812). 
§ “The History of the Ancient, Noble, and Illustrious Family of 
Gordon.” By William Gordon, of Old Aberdeen. 2 vols., Edinb., 1726. 
