The Brown Bear 



but in the higher valleys in the neighbourhood, such as 

 Tilel and Wardwan, they hibernate for a long season, 

 not venturing forth till the snows begin to melt in 

 March, April, or May. When they first come forth 

 from their winter lairs, which may be either clefts 

 in rocks or hollow tree -trunks, their coats are in 

 splendid condition ; but in the late summer and 

 autumn, when the animals have become very fat, 

 the fur is in a most dilapidated condition, and the 

 skin not worth the trouble of stripping from the carcase. 

 The supply of fat accumulated during the summer and 

 autumn is completely consumed during the winter 

 slumber and fast, the animal coming forth in the spring 

 as thin as the proverbial herring. To the female the 

 winter fast must be an especially trying time, as it is 

 during hibernation that the cubs, usually two in 

 number, are born. In the higher valleys the mother- 

 bear is generally to be seen in spring accompanied by 

 two cubs, the father of the family usually wandering 

 about by himself at some distance off. When they 

 first venture abroad amons: the birch-forests the ground 

 is still to a great extent covered with snow, and it is 

 probable that their food consists largely of bark, twigs, 

 and moss ; but as soon as the grass grows they take to 

 grazing. 



Few things edible seem to come amiss to a Kashmir 

 brown bear ; the partiality of these animals for grass, 

 grain, fruit, and an occasional meal of carrion has been 

 already mentioned, and they are also fond of grubbing 

 for ants and the bulbs of the lily-like plants which grow 

 in profusion in the valleys around Kashmir above the 

 forests. They are reported to occasionally kill sheep 

 and goats, and an instance is on record of an old bear 

 killing a couple of its younger brethren and partially 

 devouring their bodies. 



As a rule, these bears are by no means vicious or 

 quarrelsome, although occasionally a coolie, generally 

 through his own foolhardiness, is mauled by one, while 



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