40) 



BEAD-TREE. 



BEAK. 



403 



deposits, which have been once parts of the sea-bed, and have been 

 raised to constitute dry laud in very modern geological periods. It is 

 scarcely possible to assign exactly the limits of these formations, even 

 by the aid of the organic remains which they contain ; for while some 

 raised beaches contain only species now living in the adjoining sea, 

 others include one or more extinct species, and thus conduct by insen- 

 sible gradations from the almost jnodern shell-beds of the raised 

 shores of the Forth and the Clyde, and the variously elevated shell- 

 accumulations of Uddewalla and other points of Sweden, to the still 

 richer and more ancient (though still to be called Newer Pleioceue) 

 deposits of Sicily. The term Pleistocene (meaning ' most recent ') which 

 has come into use, meets this difficulty but feebly, and in fact only 

 draws an arbitrary or epochal line, instead of the soft gradations of 

 long periods which really appear in nature. Nearly all the British, 

 Irish, and European shores furnish examples in abundance : as the 

 shores of the Forth and Clyde, the coasts of Yorkshire and Lancashire, 

 the coasts of Cornwall and Devon, of Wexford, Normandy, Sweden, 

 and the Mediterranean. 



BEAD-TREE. [MELIA.] 



BEAGLE, a small well-proportioned hound, slow but sure, having 

 an excellent nose and most enduring diligence, formerly much in 

 fashion for hunting the hare, but now comparatively neglected, its 

 place being occupied, where hare-hunting is patronised, by the Harrier. 

 [HARRIER.] 



The Beagle. 



These were the little hounds so much prized by 'the good old 

 English gentleman ; ' for at a trifling expense, and greatly to the 

 delight of the neighbouring rustics who followed on foot, he could 

 keep his ten or eleven couple, not more than so many inches high 

 individually, and, mounted on his easy pad, would generally make 

 certain of killing his hare, though it frequently cost him two or 

 three hours to perform the feat. During this protracted chase he 

 had ample leisure for enjoying the sight of his admirably-matched 

 pack running so well together that ' they might have been covered 

 with a sheet,' and for gratifying his ears with their tuneable cry. 



The hare distanced them immeasurably at first, and in the course 

 of the run she might be observed to sit and listen ' sad on some little 

 eminence," but 



" In louder peals, the loaded winds 



Brought on the gathering storm " 



and after exhausting all her speed, shifts, and doublings, she almost 

 always fell a victim to their persevering and destructive instinct. 



A well-bred beagle of the proper size, which should not exceed that 

 above mentioned, is a very pretty and symmetrical variety. This 

 symmetry (the term is used in relation to the purposes for which the 

 dog is employed) was the result of much care among amateurs, who 

 spared no efforts to bring it to what they considered the standard of 

 perfection. 



Some prided themselves on the diminutive but still effective size of 

 their pack*. Daniel and others have not forgotten to commemorate 

 Colonel Hnrdy's ' cry of beagles.' They amounted to ten or eleven 

 couple, and were always carried to and from the field in a pair of 

 panniers upon a horse's back. Small as they were, they rarely failed, 

 though they could never get near enough to press the hare in the early 

 part of the run, to stick to her and worry her to death at last. 



Such diminutive hounds are sometimes called Lap-Dog Beagles and 

 Rabbit Beagles. 



The fairy pack above alluded to had a little barn for their kennel, 



where also their panniers were kept. The door was one night broken 



and every hound, panniers and all, stolen ; nor could the dis- 



ite owner ever discover either the thieves or their booty. 



111,. \M-TKEE. [Pviirs.] 



BEAN. [FABA; PHASEOI.US; DOLICHOS; VICIE.B.] 

 BEAN-GOOSE. [GOOSE.] 



BEAR, the English name for a family of Plantigrade 



forming a natural group, with six incisor teeth and two canine teeth 



in each jaw, twelve molars in the upper and fourteen in the lower jaw ; 



pi:ntadactyle or five-toed feet, armed with strong claws ; and a short 



SAT. HIST. DIV. VOL. I 



tail. The Bears exhibit but a comparatively small carnivorous de- 

 velopment ; for notwithstanding their strength, their dentition, par- 

 ticularly in the form of the crowns of their molar teeth, indicates a 

 propensity bordering on the frugivorous exclusively. Aristotle well 

 knew this, and thus described the habits of the Bear ( ' Nat. Hist.,' 

 viii. 5) : " But the bear is an omnivorous auirual, and by the supple- 

 ness of its body climbs trees and eats the fruits and also legumes. It 

 also devours honey, having first broken up the hives ; crabs too and 

 ants it eats, and also preys upon flesh." Aristotle then describes how 

 the animal attacks the stag, the boar, and even the bull. 



The ranger in the ' Tour on the Prairies ' notices the honey-seeking 

 propensity in language which, though not quite classical, is truly 

 nomadic : " The bear is the knowingest varmint for finding out a 

 bee-tree in the world. They '11 gnaw for a day together at the trunk, 

 till they make a hole big enough to get in their paws, and then they'll 

 haul out honey, bees, and all." And indeed it appears that although 

 they are omnivorous, they for the most part rarely devour flesh unless 

 pressed by necessity. Their claws too, though formidable weapons, 

 are not retractile, and are more calculated for digging and climbing 

 than for tearing prey. It is their general characteristic to lay them- 

 selves up in caves or hollows for the winter, which they pass in a 

 dormant state, and without taking food. The female produces her 

 young at this season. 



European Bears. 



Vrsus Arctos (Linn.), the Brown Bear, "Ap/cros of Aristotle, the Ours 

 of the French, Orso of the Italians, Bar of the Germans, Bjorn of the 

 Swedes. This appears to have been the only species certainly known 

 to Linnaeus ; and though zoologists are not without their suspicions 

 as to some of the species since recorded, the number of those which 

 can no longer be considered doubtful will prove how much this depart- 

 ment of Natural History has been enriched since his time. The Brown 

 Bear is widely diffused. The mountainous districts of Europe, from 

 very high latitudes (Arctic Circle) in the north, to the Alps and 

 Pyrenees in the south ; Siberia, Karntchatka, and even Japan, to the 

 eastward, and a portion of the northern regions of America, form the 

 range of its geographical distribution. Africa and the Moluccas have 

 been added ; but it is far from improbable that these localities have 

 been assigned to it by travellers who have taken some other species 

 for it. 



To the Kamtchatkaus this Bear seems to give the necessaries and 

 even the comforts of life. The skin, we are told, forms their bods and 

 their coverlets, bonnets for their heads, gloves for their hands, and 

 collars for their dogs ; while an overall made of it, and drawn over 

 the soles of their shoes, prevents them from slipping on the ice. The 

 flesh and fat are their dainties. Of the intestines they make masks 

 or covers for their faces, to protect them from the glare of the sun in 

 the spring, and use them as a substitute for glass, by extending them 

 over their windows. Even the shoulder-blades are said to be put in 

 requisition for cutting grass. 



The Laplanders hold it in great veneration, and, according to Leems, 

 called it the Dog of God ; for it appears that among the Norwegians 

 there had long been a proverb, that it had the strength of ten men 

 and the sense of twelve. They never; says the same author, presume to 

 call it by its proper name of Guouzhja, lest it should revenge the 

 insult on their flocks ; but make mention of it as Moedda-Aigja, or 

 the Old Man with a Fur-Cloak (' senem cum mastruca '). 



The Brown Bear is a solitary animal. Its retreat during the period 

 of hybernation is the natural hollow of a tree, or some cavern ; and 

 if these are not to be found the animal constructs a habitation for 

 itself, sometimes by digging, sometimes by forming a rude kind of 

 hut or den with branches of trees, lined with moss. Here it retires 

 when fat with the summer's food, and remains dormant, without 

 taking any sustenance, till the ensuing spring. Cuvier makes the 

 period of gestation about seven mouths, stating that they couple in 

 June, and that the birth takes place in January ; and the same number 

 of months is assigned in the article in the old French ' Encyclopedic," 

 taken from observations of the bears kept at Berne. The cubs when 

 first born are not much larger than puppies. They are long-lived, 

 for it appears that one of the Berne bears had been confined thero 

 31 years ; and another, born there, is spoken of at the age of 47 in 

 the menagerie at Paris. They are excellent swimmers, notwithstand- 

 ing their uncouth appearance. Mr. Lloyd, in his ' Field Sports of the 

 North of Europe,' gives a very interesting account of the habits of 

 this species, and of his adventures in hunting it. 



That the Brown Bear was at one time common in the British 

 Islands there can be no doubt. The Caledonian bears (another name 

 for British with the Romans) were imported to make sport for the 

 Roman people, to whom the excitement of witnessing the suffering of 

 man and beast in its most distressing shape seems to have been but 

 too welcome. From the well-known lines of Martial, descriptive of 

 the dreadful punishment of the malefactor Laureolus, it appears that 

 they were sometimes used as instruments of torture : 

 Nuda Caledonio sic pectora prabuit urso, 

 Non falsa pendens in cruce Laureolus.' 



Ray quotes authority for the Brown Bear having been one of the 



We are quite aware that some commentators are of opinion that Martial is 

 here speaking of a mimic scene, and that the verses which follow those above 



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