OP THE BEAR TRIBE IN GENERAL. 207 



flesh is asserted to have been held in the same 

 esteem with that of the Boar. In the History of 

 the Gordon family it is related, that in the year 

 1057, one of the Gordons killed, in Scotland, a 

 fierce Bear; and, as a reward for his prowess, the 

 king directed that he should carry a Bear's head on 

 his banner. All these animals have, however, been 

 extirpated many centuries. 



The females breed only once in the year, and 

 few of them produce more than two cubs at a 

 birth. Those species which inhabit countries in 

 high northern latitudes, retire into their dens at 

 the commencement of severe weather, and remain- 

 ing in a torpid state through the whole winter, do 

 not appear abroad till the returning spring again 

 calls them into life. 



Some of the animals, huge and unwieldy as they 

 may seem, are capable of climbing into trees, in 

 pursuit of prey, or to escape from their enemies. 

 Such, however, is generally their weight, and the 

 form of their body, that they cannot, like the 

 smaller climbing quadrupeds, descend with their 

 head foremost; but, with great apparent clumsi- 

 ness, they descend backward, 



THE 



