602 THE CARNIVORES 



await their prey. The incautious fish, swimming heedlessly up the river, doubtless 

 mistakes the bear's broad legs for a rock or tree stump, and those who have once 

 witnessed the almost lightning-like rapidity of a stroke from Bruin's fore-paws will 

 have no difficulty whatever in completing the drama for themselves. The fish is 

 apparently always taken to the bank to be devoured for even the small ones do not 

 appear to be eaten whole. ' ' 



As we have already had occasion to mention, the brown bear, in common with 

 its relatives, is dull of hearing, and it is also by no means well gifted as regards 

 sight. What it lacks in these respects it makes up for, however, in the great 

 development of the sense of smell. Owing to this deficiency of hearing, a bear can 

 be approached from the leeward to within a very short distance, and the writer has 

 shot many in the Himalayas with a smooth-bore gun. Care should, however, always 

 be taken to approach a bear from above, as a wounded one rolling down hill on to 

 the hunter is a very dangerous object. If two bears are feeding together and one is 

 hit by a bullet, it will not unfrequently turn fiercely on its companion, apparently 

 under the impression that the latter was its aggressor. In the Himalayas, at least, 

 the brown bear never voluntarily attacks human beings if unmolested, and it rarely 

 turns on them when wounded, unless brought to close quarters. There is but little 

 doubt that the current stories of the fierceness of the European bear are exaggerated. 

 In regard to the proverbial " hug," Mr. Blanford observes that the story is appar- 

 ently devoid of foundation. "A bear, from its anatomical structure, strikes round 

 with its paws, as if grasping, and the blow of its powerful arm drives its claws into 

 the body of its victim, causing -terrible wounds, but the idea of its ' hugging ' 

 appears not confirmed by recent observers." 



At the best, a brown bear is uncouth and grotesque in its movements, and in 

 no case is this more marked than when one of these animals suddenly catches a whiff 

 of human scent, and starts off with a loud "whuff" at a shambling gallop. In 

 spite, however, of their uncouthness, bears can travel pretty quickly when so minded, 

 although their usual gait is deliberate in the extreme. 



The brown bear is easily tamed, and both in Europe and India is the companion 

 of itinerant showmen, by whom it is taught to dance, and go through various other 

 performances. Formerly native English bears, and subsequently foreign ones im- 

 ported for the purpose, were kept in England for the purpose of " bear-baiting," and 

 the office of Master of the Bears was a Crown post, while every nobleman kept his 

 "bearward." Bear-baiting was continued up to the reign of Queen Anne. The 

 well-known bear garden at Berne in Switzerland is doubtless a survival of the 

 mediaeval establishments kept up for this so-called sport. As showing the age 

 to which the brown bear may live, it is worthy of mention that one kept in the gar- 

 den at Berne survived for upward of forty-seven years while it is on record that a 

 female gave birth to young at the age of thirty-one years. From the beauty of 

 their color, and the length of their fur, the skins of the Himalayan brown bear, if 

 procured early in the spring, are held in high estimation. 



We have already mentioned that fossil remains, referred to the brown bear, 

 have been found in the superficial deposits of Ireland; and it may be added that 

 bones and teeth undoubtedly belonging to this species occur in the fens, brick earths, 



