142 THE BEAR. 



their exterior conformation, and many of their propensities and 

 habits, from all other quadrupeds of the carnivorous class. 



THE BEAR 



Is an animal generally known, and yet various differences and 

 contradictions exist among the writers of natural history con- 

 cerning this subject, which can have originated only from the 

 circumstance of not rightly distinguishing the different species. 



The three principal varieties of the bear kind, are the brown, 

 the black, and the white, or great polar bear: the first is an in- 

 habitant of almost every climate ; the black bear is chiefly found 

 in the extensive forests with which the northern regions of Eu- 

 rope and America abound. 



The bear is a solitary, savage, and ferocious animal; he chooses 

 his residence in the most unfrequented deserts, and makes his 

 den in the most dangerous and inaccessible precipices of moun- 

 tains, where silence and solitude reign. For this purpose, he 

 commonly searches out some natural cavern, or some hollow 

 tree of an enormous size, which it is not very difficult to find in 

 the immense forests of the hyperborean regions. About the end 

 of autumn, at which time the bear is exceedingly fat, he retires 

 to this asylum, and remains, during some weeks, in a state of 

 total inactivity, and abstinence from food. This animal is not, 

 however, like some others, totally deprived of sensation during 

 that interval, but seems to subsist on the former exuberance of 

 his flesh, without feeling the calls of hunger, until the supera- 

 bundant fat which he had acquired in the summer season, begins 

 to be considerably wasted. 



During the time of this apathy, to which the male bear re- 

 signs himself, the female brings forth, and suckles her young. 

 For this purpose she chooses her retreat in the most sequestered 

 places, and apart from the male, lest he should devour them. 

 She makes a warm bed for her cubs, and nurses them with un- 

 remitting assiduity for the space of about four months; during 

 which time she scarcely allows herself any support. The bear 

 produces only two, or at the most three at a time. The cubs 

 are at first not above eight inches long, and remain blind during 

 the first month. The time of this animal's gestation is six months, 

 and the beginning of January is their time of parturition. Al- 

 though the male bear, whenever it finds an opportunity, destroys 

 the little ones, the females are fond of them to a ferocious dis- 

 traction ; and as soon as they have brought forth, their fierce 

 ness is more violent and dangerous than that of the males. 



In the spring, the old bears come out from their retreats, lean, 

 and almost famished with confinement and abstinence. They 

 then ransack every place for food, climb trees, and devour the 



