198 UBSID^E. 



far south as Mergui, whence Dr. Anderson obtained living speci- 

 mens for the Calcutta Zoological Gardens. It also occurs in 

 Southern China, Hainan, and Formosa. "Whether the bear found 

 in the plains of Eastern Bengal and Assam is this species or the 

 sloth-bear, I cannot state positively. I once sa\v a skin of U. tor- 

 qiiatus obtained from an animal that I was assured had been shot 

 in Lower Bengal; and a writer in the 'Asian 'of January 21st, 

 1888, states that he shot one in the Terai, close to the Patli Dun, 

 North-west Provinces. 



Synonymy. The specific name thibetanus, although the oldest, 

 must be abandoned, because the animal, although common on the 

 southern slopes of the Himalaya, is never found in Tibet itself. I 

 was misled by a discoloured skin of very small size into giving a 

 new name, U. yedrosianus, to the Baluchistan bear; but remarkable 

 as it appears that a Himalayan and Chinese species should inhabit 

 so very different a climate as that of Baluchistan, there appears no 

 sufficient distinction to justify the separation of the bear from the 

 latter country. 



Habits. In the Himalayas and throughout its range, except in 

 Baluchistan, the black bear is a forest animal. In the mountains/ 

 it is found at various elevations from near the base of the hills to 

 about 12,000 feet; usually in summer it ascends to 9000 or 10,000 

 feet or higher, whilst in winter it descends to 5000 feet or even 

 lower. It is found frequently about villages, and often feeds in 

 fields of grain or in fruit orchards ; it has even been known to eat 

 the pumpkins growing on the roof of a house. In winter it subsists 

 largely on acorns. Its food consists mainly of fruits and roots ; 

 but whilst it does not dig so much f<3r the latter as the brown bear, 

 it is far more In the habit of climbing trees for fruit, and is not 

 unfrequently found in fruit-trees at night or in the morning. It 

 is also, like most bears, fond of honey, and is said at times to 

 attack the beehives in villages. At the same time it is the most 

 carnivorous of the Indian bears, and not only kills sheep, goats, 

 deer, and even cattle and ponies, but occasionally feeds on carrion. 

 Some observers state that black bears hybernate, whilst Adams 

 declares they do not. The fact is doubtless, as stated by Kinloch, 

 that they do not hybernate completely as U. arctus does, but that 

 they remain in a state of semitorpor, often in a hollow tree, during 

 the cold months, moving about and feeding a little on milder 

 days. 



By all accounts the black bear is a much more savage animal 

 than the brown bear, and as the former lives near villages, he more 

 frequently comes in contact with men. Many natives are killed 

 or severely injured by black bears in the Himalayas, and some 

 Europeans ; but still it appears an exception for even a wounded 

 bear to charge. This animal is much sharper of sight and hearing 

 than the Himalayan brown bear, and is said by some to have re- 

 markable powers of scent : but by other accounts its sense of smell, 

 though fairly acute, is very inferior to that possessed by deer or 

 especially by wild sheep or ibex. It has the usual walk and quick 



