BROWN BEAR.—Ursus Arctos. 
than it had achieved while still uninjured. Many a hunter has received mortal wounds 
by incautiously approaching a Bear which lay quiescent in apparent death, but was really 
only stunned for the moment by the shock of the injury which it had received, and 
which in a very few minutes would have deprived it of life. 
SEVERAL species of Bears are now recognised by systematic naturalists, the principal 
examples of which will be noticed in the following pages. 
The Bear which is most popularly known in this country is the Brown BEAR; a 
creature which is found rather plentifully in forests and the mountainous districts of many 
portions of Europe and Asia. As may be supposed from its title, the colour of its fur is 
brown, slightly variable in tint in different individuals, and often in the same individual 
at various ages. In many specimens it is found that the neck is encircled with a white 
band when the animal is young, but that this curious mark is soon merged into the 
general brown tint of the fur as the animal increases in years and dimensions. This 
white neck-band was once supposed to be the mark of a male cub, but it is now 
ascertained that it belongs equally to the male and female sex. In general it is merged 
into the brown fur after the second or third year, but in some imstances it remains 
throughout the entire life of the animal, which is on that account termed a “ Ring Bear.” 
The size to which a well-fed and undisturbed Brown Bear will grow is really 
surprising, for although it loses its growing properties after its twentieth year, it seems 
permanently to retain the capability of enlargement, and when im a favourable situation 
will live to a very great age. The weight of an adult Brown Bear in good condition is 
