92 Game of Europe, W. & N. Asia & America 



tiiwii, except in old individuals, while in the Syrian race a silvery grey tone 

 is predominant. Similar variations in colour obtain in the North American 

 races of the species, many Alaskan skins being much browner than those of 

 the true Rocky Mountain grizzly, in which grey is the prevailing tone. 

 Such colour variations are indicated by names like " silver-tip " and 

 'cinnamon" bear, which are applied by American hunters. These 

 variations, in many cases at any rate, appear, however, to be individual 

 rather than racial, Dr. W. S. Rainsford mentioning an instance of a female 

 grizzly bear with three cubs of which the first was nearly yellow, the 

 second almost black, and the third grey. 



To describe the typical brown bear ot Europe in detail would be a 

 waste of time, since it is an animal familiar to all, and several of the 

 leading features in which it differs from the numerous other local races 

 ot the species are alluded to in the descriptions of the latter. Under the 

 typical race may be provisionally included all the bears (save the polar 

 species) found from the Pyrenees at least as far east as the Caucasus and 

 the Urals. Although variable to some extent in this respect, the typical 

 brown bear is not an excessively large animal. Normally the colour of 

 the fur is dark brown ; and the skull shows a comparatively low profile 

 and a relatively wide palate, while the front claws are short and much 

 curved. It has been stated by the late Professor Busk that the last 

 premolar tooth in the lower jaw is characterised by its relatively small size 

 and the absence ot the posterior inner tubercle ; but in a young skeleton 

 from Russia in the British Museum the latter tubercle is very well 

 developed, while there are slight traces of it in a Norwegian skull in the 

 same collection. 



Although long since exterminated in Britain, and also killed out at a 

 later date in Switzerland, the brown bear is still fiiirly numerous in many 

 parts ot Scandinavia, while in the Caucasus, according to Prince Demidoff, 

 it is so common that the keepers of the Grand Ducal territories have 



