4 THE NATURALIST IN NORWAY. 



greater part consists of large tracts of forest and moun- 

 tain lands, which abound with wild animals. Here 

 Nature reigns supreme. 



The brown bear (Ursus arctus) is pretty common in 

 all parts of this country, especially in Nordland and 

 the central districts. It is but seldom seen in the 

 neighbourhood of Christiania. 



It was for a long time believed that two or three 

 different kinds of bears were to be found in Norway. 

 Pontoppidan, Bishop of Bergen, who wrote in the 

 middle of the eighteenth century, remarks, " Bears are 

 most commonly found in the Bergen and Throndjem 

 Stifts, and they are of two kinds, viz. the hesterbjorn, 

 or horse-bear, somewhat larger, and the myrebjorn, or 

 ant-bear, somewhat smaller." Another ancient scribe, 

 Olaus Wormius, affirmed that no less than three dif- 

 ferent species were to be found in Norway. " People 

 have observed," says this old writer, " three kinds of 

 bears in Norway. The first very large, not altogether 

 black, but brown ; not quite so hurtful as the other 

 kinds, for it feeds on grass and the leaves of trees, 

 being found in desert places and vast woods, where it 

 lays up stores of nuts and acorns before the winter 

 approaches. The second kind is less in size and blacker 

 in colour, carnivorous, hostile to horses and other ani- 

 mals, a most voracious creature. A third kind, which 

 is the least hurtful, which they call the ant-bear, because 

 it delights in ants, and overturns their nests in order 

 to gain possession of them/' 



It is now acknowledged by Norwegian naturalists 

 that only one kind of bear is to be found in Norway, 

 viz. the common brown bear. It is true that bears 

 are sometimes seen in this country that are blackish- 



