ing half in and half out of the water, squeaking loudly to any of its 

 acquaintances, he then seized it, always by the nape of the neck, 

 and ducked its head under water in the most comical way. 



No. 13. Ursus Labiatus. 

 JERDON, No. 91, PAGE 72 ; INDIAN BLACK BEAR. 



I do not think that bears ever attack without provocation, except 

 perhaps when come upon during the breeding season which is, I 

 imagine, at the commencement of the rains, June to August in 

 most places. In the very few instances I have known of bears 

 going out of their way to fight, I think I traced the effect back to 

 the same cause. I can corroborate Tickell's excellent description 

 at page 73 of Jerdon. I have by the noise he mentions, been guided 

 to, within a few paces of, a bear and shot him in the act of sucking 

 out white ants. 



Painters and sportsmen, from observing the antics of tame 

 dancing bears and the animal's progress over the rugged ground 

 they most frequent, have involuntarily allowed themselves to 

 believe the travellers' tale that bears charge in, or at any rate, 

 often assume, an erect position ; a bear when suddenly startled, by 

 something in front of him, naturally throws himself upon his 

 haunches and thus, in consequence of his peculiar formation, stands 

 upright for a moment ; in scrambling over rocks he sometimes 

 appears to be erect, perhaps he may occasionally rear up for an 

 instant to get a better view, but with these exceptions he goes as 

 much on all fours as any other quadruped* During more than ten 

 years' shooting experience in the Deccan and the Northern Circars, 

 I must have seen very many scores of bears, and can only call to 

 mind five instances of these animals standing erect of these cases, 

 four were caused by the agonies the poor brutes suffered from 

 wounds, a fifth certainly meant mischief, and was on his hind legs 

 at the instant I killed him almost on my gun's muzzle, but I think 

 his position was a mere accident of bad ground. Having been 

 worried (much as a cat is by a terrier) by a bear, and having seen 

 other instances of their " coming home," I can from experience 

 say, that they do not " charge" in an erect position. Often as it 

 must have been heard by almost every keen sportsman in India, 



