392 A GENTLEMANLY BEAR. 
very great, being sometimes from seven to eight hundred pounds when the creature is 
yemarkably fine, and from five to six hundred pounds in ordinary cases. Mr. Fall 
remarks, that a Bear which he killed was so enormously heavy, that when sling on a 
pole it was a weighty burden for ten bearers. 
The Brown Bear is not so formidable a foe to cattle and flocks as might be supposed 
from the strength, courage, and voracity of the anizmaal, as it has been often known to live 
for years in the near vicinity of farms without making any inroads upon the live stock. 
Fortunately for the farmers and cattle owners of Northern Europe, the Brown Bear is 
chiefly indebted for its food to roots and vegetable substances, or the sheds and folds 
would soon be depopulated. As a general fact, the Bear does not trouble itself to pursue 
the cattle, and in many cases owes its taste for blood to the absurd conduct of the cattle, 
which are apt to bellow and charge at the Bear as soon as it makes its appearance. The 
Bear is then provoked to retaliation, and in so doing, learns a taste for blood which never 
afterwards deserts it. When a Bear has once taken up the business of cattle-stealing, 
there is no peace in the neighbourhood until the country is freed from the presence of the 
marauder. It is said that the Bear is more virulent in the destruction of cattle when 
the weather is wet and cloudy than when it is dry and clear. 
Ants form a favourite article of diet with the Bear, which scrapes their nests ont of 
the earth with its powerful talons, and laps up the ants and their so-called “eggs” with its 
ready tongue. Bees and their sweet produce are greatly to the taste of the Bear, which 
is said to make occasional raids wpon the bee-hives, and to plunder their contents. 
Vegetables of various kinds are favourite articles of diet with the Bear, and in 
the selection of these dainties the animal evinces considerable taste. According to 
Mr. Lloyd, “the Bear feeds on roots, and the leaves and small limbs of the aspen, 
mountain-ash, and other trees: he is also fond of succulent plants, such as angelica, 
mountain-thistle, &e. To berries he is likewise very partial, and during the autumnal 
months, when they are ripe, he devours vast quantities of cranberries, blueberries, 
raspberries, strawberries, cloudberries, and other berries common to the Scandinavian 
forests. Ripe corn he also eats, and sometimes commits no small havoc amongst it ; 
for seating himself, as it is said, on his haunches in a field of it, he collects with 
his outstretched arms nearly a sheaf at a time, the ears of which he then devours.” 
Even in captivity the Bear retains this fruit-loving propensity. One of these animals, 
which was being maltreated by a cruel owner, was benevolently purchased by one of my 
friends, an officer in the Guards, who had no sooner concluded the bargain than he 
repented of his kindness, for the Bear was so demonstrative in its expressions of gratitude 
that he began to be rather uneasy, and having no possible locality wherein to lodge his 
new acquisition, he felt himself in some perplexity as to its lodging. However, he got 
the Bear into a post-chaise, and having taken the precaution to purchase a great many 
pottles of strawberries, he urged the post-boy to drive at his best speed, and set himself to 
propitiate his new acquaintance. The Bear took the strawberries in a very polished 
manner, and ate them deliberately, rejecting the green calices as fastidiously as if it had 
been accustomed to good society all its hfe. However, the fruit vanished so fast, that 
the unfortunate proprietor became alarmed for his own safety, and was not fairly reheved 
from his fears until he was deposited at the door of the barracks in which the head- 
quarters of his regiment were at that time established. The Bear, on seeing so many red- 
coated strangers, became alarmed in its turn, and fled for protection to the only person with 
whom it was acquainted. 
It so happened that the mess-dinner was just served, and that the proprietor of the 
Bear had but time to make a hasty toilet, and gain the mess-room, On this occasion 
the commanding oflicer was delayed for a few 1 minutes, and while the assembled guests 
were awaiting his arrival, the Bear walked into the room, having sniffed its way after its 
master. The ‘unexpected intruder advanced to the table, and, mounting upon the colonel’s 
chair, began to inspect the festive arrangements. Just as the Bear had lifted a dish-cover 
off the jomt at the head of the table—a ‘feat which it performed as dexterously as if it had 
been accustomed to wait at table all its life—the colonel entered the room, and when 
he saw the strange intruder who had taken such unceremonious possession of his seat, 
