THE BEARS 



unlike those of other carnivora. 

 The teeth generally show that 

 bears have a mixed diet. 

 Bears appear to have de- 

 scended from some dog-like 

 ancestor, but to have been 

 much modified. 



Except the ice-bear, all 

 the species are short and very 

 bulky. It is said that a polar 

 bear has been killed which 

 weighed 1,000 Ibs. It is far 

 the largest, and most formida- 

 ble in some respects, of all the 

 carnivora. The claws of the 

 grizzly bear are sometimes 5 

 inches long over the outer 

 curve. All bears can sit up- 

 right on their hams, and stand 

 upright against a support like a 

 tree. Some can stand upright 

 with no aid at all. Except the 

 grizzly bear, they can all climb, 

 many of them very well. In 

 the winter, if it be cold, they 

 hibernate. In the spring, when 

 the shoots of the early plants 

 come up, they emerge, hungry 

 and thin, to seek their food. 

 Bears were formerly common 

 in Britain, and were exported 

 for the Roman amphitheatres. 

 The prehistoric cave-bears 

 were very large. Their re- 

 mains have been found in Devon, Derbyshire, and other counties! The species inhabiting Britain 

 during the Roman period was the common brown bear of Europe. 



THE COMMON BROWN BEAR. 



Only one species of bear is found in Europe south of the ice-line, though above it the white 

 ice-bear inhabits Spitzbergen and the islands off the White Sea. This is the BROWN BEAR, the 

 emblem of Russia in all European caricature, and the hero of innumerable fragments of folk- 

 lore and fable, from the tents of the Lapps to the nurseries of American children. Except the ice- 

 bear, it is far the largest of European carnivora, but varies much in size. Russia is the main home 

 of the brown bear, but it is found in Sweden and Norway, and right across Northern Asia. It is also 

 common in the Carpathian Mountains, inthe Caucasus, and in Mount Pindusin Greece. IntheSouth 

 it is found in Spain and the Pyrenees, and a few are left in the Alps. The dancing-bears commonly 

 brought to England and America are caught in the Pyrenees. The " Queen's bear," so called 

 because its owner was allowed to exhibit it at Windsor, was one of these. But lately dancing- 

 bears fromServia and Wallachia have also been seen about our roads and streets. In Russia the bear 

 grows to a great size. Some have been killed of 800 Ibs. in weight. The fur is magnificent in 



Photo by Otto 



jtmchitat] 



EUROPEAN BROWN BEAR 



The specimen of the broivn bear of Europe from -which this picture -was taken -was an unusually 

 light and active bear. Its faith are almoit flat 



