832 



BEAR. 



stnpify him. This is easily accounted for, from the 

 exceedingly acute sense of smelling in the animal, and 

 the necessary abundance of nerves in and about the 

 nostrils. It is worthy of being borne in mind, as one 

 means of defence against wild animals generally, that 

 if the animal is remarkable for the superiority of any 

 one sense, the organ of that sense is always the most 

 vulnerable part. 



A sharp instrument, which is used with a short 

 grasp, requires very skilful management at close quar- 

 ters with the bear ; and those who rashly attempt to 

 assail him with sucli a weapon often pay dear for 

 their temerity. If, however, a man has sufficient 

 presence of mind, and can keep his arm disentangled, 

 he can master the bear even at its own favourite prac- 

 tice of hugging, as he has only to grasp the animal's 

 windpipe as tightly as he can close by the root of the 

 tongue, and hold it determinedly, in order to make the 

 bear almost instantly relax his clutch, and speedily 

 part with that life which he maintained so despe- 

 rately against wounding. Thus, in the case of this 

 animal, as in most other cases, a very little skill, used 

 with coolness and self-possession, succeeds fur better 

 and more speedily than the most powerful exertion of 

 mere strength. 



4. The GUISLY BEAR ( Ursus horrlbilis). A very 

 characteristic delineation of this bear is given by 

 Landseer, in the plate " Bears," (No. II.) It is de- 

 scribed as the largest and most formidable of American 

 bears, and indeed of all land bears ; and the cha- 

 racter of its habitation points out the purpose which 

 bears answer in the grand system of nature. The 

 whole genus, as already noticed, have a polar rather 

 than an equatorial character, and may thus be consi- 

 dered as geographically the reverse of the more for- 

 midable among the strictly carnivorous animals the 

 lion and tiger in the eastern world, and the jaguar in 

 the western. These are all tropical in their home, 

 habitually ardent in their temperaments, and, though 

 they can endure hunger for considerable periods, they 

 feed all the year round, arid thus have no season of 

 repose. The bears again are seasonal animals, retiring 

 during the winter, and corning abroad in the spring. But 

 it is not from the storm that the bears retire, it is from 

 the cold serenity the almost total cessation of atmo- 

 spheric as well as living action which reigns during 

 the polar winter : the storm is both seed time and 

 harvest to the bears. During the utmost of its fury 

 they range the wilds and forests, accompanied by 

 those more powerful owls and hawks, which, like the 

 bears, are equally remarkable for their strength and 

 their impenetrable covering. At those times many 

 of the smaller animals are dashed lifeless to the earth 

 by the storm, or shrouded in the snow, and upon these 

 the bears make an abundant supper a supper of days, 

 and even of weeks, before they retire to their long 

 rest. So also, when the storm begins to break, they 

 find a plentiful collection of the carcasses of such 

 animals as have perished in the snow, and been 

 concealed from sight, and preserved from putrefaction 

 under it. 



The devastation is of course much greater, because 

 the storms are more severe among the mountains in 

 North America, than-on the plains or in the forests of 

 the valleys. Those mountains arc not very lofty, but 

 they are exceedingly wild and rugged, presenting 

 rocks and precipices of more harsh and ragged cha- 

 racter than are to be found to the same extent in any 

 other part of the world. It is for this reason that 



they have gotten the name of the " Stony Mountains," 

 and that name is peculiarly appropriate. 



These stony mountains are the habitation of the 

 grisly bear, which was an animal unknown to natural 

 history until inquiry and observation had been ex- 

 tended to that side of the great central valley of 

 which they formed the boundary ; and that this bear, 

 which is their proper inhabitant, should be the most 

 powerful and the most ferocious of land bears, shows 

 that the energy of these animals is ever in proportion 

 to the waste of nature which may be supposed to 

 take place in the region which they inhabit. The 

 most formidable of the equatorial preyers inhabit 

 lower down the lion in the thieket, and the tiger in 

 the jungle ; but, as is proved by this species, the bear 

 of the mountains is much more formidable than the 

 bear of the plains ; and we have a collateral proof in 

 the land bear of Europe and the north of Asia, 

 which invariably becomes more of a mountaineer the 

 farther that it extends into southern latitudes. 



Dr. Godman, to whose valuable work on the Na- 

 tural History of America we are indebted for a good 

 practical account of the bears of that part of the 

 world, thus characterises this formidable animal : 

 " This bear, justly considered as the most dreadful 

 and dangerous of North American quadrupeds, is the 

 despotic had sanguinary monarch of the wilds over 

 which he ranges. Gigantic in size, and terrific in 

 aspect, he unites to a ferocious blood-thirsty disposi- 

 tion a surpassing strength of limb, which gives him 

 undisputed supremacy over every other quadruped 

 tenant of the wilderness, and causes man himself to 

 tremble at his approach, though possessed of offensive 

 weapons unknown to any but the human race. To 

 the Indians the very name of the grisly bear is 

 dreadful, and the killing of one is esteemed equal to 

 a great victory ; the white hunters are always willing 

 to avoid an encounter with so powerful an adversary, 

 and seldom or never wantonly provoke his anger." 

 We are informed by the same authority that this bear, 

 when excited by hunger or passion, pursues, attacks, 

 and slaughters indiscriminately all animals which are 

 unable to escape from him by speed or by artifice ; 

 and that even the American bison, which is an ani- 

 mal of great strength and power, is vanquished by 

 this bear, and its heavy carcass draggpd along with 

 the greatest ease to a place where it can be consumed 

 at leisure. 



Independently of its size, its colour, and the ferocity 

 of its disposition when roused, this bear may be 

 readily distinguished from every other species, by 

 several well-marked characters. The line of its fore- 

 head and muzzle is straighter than in any other species, 

 and its claws, especially those of the fore feet, are 

 much more produced, and far more crooked, though its 

 general habit is not that of a climber. The snout 

 is black, and rnoveable ; the central furrow being 

 distinct ; the lips are partially extensile ; the eyes 

 very small^ having no third eyelid, and the irides 

 being of a light reddish-brown. The ears are short and 

 rounded, and the line of the forehead thence to the 

 eyes is a little convex, but it continues straight to the 

 point of the snout. The hair on the face is very shorty 

 but on the body generally it is long and very thickly 

 set. When young, its general colour is not unlike 

 that of some varieties of the brown bear of Europe. 

 Like that too it is subject to considerable variations 

 of shade, not only from age and season, but also in 

 different individuals. But when full grown, the prc- 



