6oo 



THE CARNIVORES 



the regions frequented by the Himalayan bear than is the case in the habitats of the 

 European bear. It should also be mentioned that Himalayan bears are decidedly 

 lighter when they issue from their winter sleeping places than they are later on in 

 the season ; and as it is then that they are generally shot, on account of the fur 

 being in its best condition, the prevalent idea as to their extremely light color has 

 been intensified. 



Although, as in the other species of the genus, the males are considerably larger 

 than the females, there is nearly as much variation in point of size in the brown bear 

 as there is in respect of color. As a rule, the Himalayan race is smaller than the 

 European. Exact measurements of large European examples are not easy to obtain, 

 but it is probable that some specimens reach at least eight feet from the tip of the 

 snout to the root of the tail. In the Himalayas the same dimensions are not generally 

 more than five or five and one-half feet, but large specimens reach about seven feet, 

 and one has been recorded of seven and one-half feet in length and three feet five 

 inches in height. The tail does not measure more than two or three inches. 



The brown bear may be regarded as an inhabitant of almost the whole of Eu- 

 rope, and of Asia northward of the Himalayas ; its former range extending from the 

 British Islands and Spain in the west to Kamchatka in the east. Bears are still 

 found in the Pyrenees, and are comparatively common in many parts of Scandinavia, 

 Germany, Hungary, and Russia. At what date they finally disappeared from the 

 British Islands cannot be determined. Mr. Harting, however, adduces evidence to 



show that bears were still 

 in existence in the eighth 

 century; and, in the time 

 of Edward the Confessor, 

 the town of Norwich had 

 to furnish annually one 

 bear to the king. There 

 is no decisive historical 

 evidence as to the exist- 

 ence of bears in Ireland, 

 but remains have been 

 found there in various 

 parts, which in all proba- 

 bility belonged to the pres- 

 ent species, although they 

 have been referred by some 

 to the American grizzly 

 bear. 



In the Himalayas the 

 brown bear is found from 

 Afghanistan in the west to 



Nipal in the east. It does not occur in the more or less Tibetan districts of Zanskar 

 and Ladakh, but extends up the valley of the Indus as far as Gilgit. In the 

 mountains around the valley of Kashmir brown bears were once very numerous, but 



HEAD OK BROWN BEAR. 



(From Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1867.) 



