BE All. 



335 



At last they were obliged to throw down the r guns 

 and pouches, and jump from a bai.k twenty feet high 

 into the river. But bruin is more expert both at 

 j umping and swimming than even a back-woods' rifle- 

 "man, so he plunged iu after them, and was almost in 

 the act of seizing the hindmost man, when one of 

 those on shore shot him through the head and he 

 expired. \Vhe-n they dragged him on shore, they 

 found that eight balls had passed through his body 

 in different directions. 



There are many similar occurrences mentioned, 

 but notwithstanding them all, the real character of 

 this animal does not appear to be made out in a 

 manner altogether satisfactory ; and thus, like most 

 objects while seen through a fog, this monster of the 

 American wilderness may appear much less formi- 

 dable when we come to closer inspection. 



Though the black bear and the grisly bear are 

 the only two species of North American bears that 

 have been definitely ascertained, the former as an 

 inhabitant of the low ground forests, and of these 

 only or chiefly, and the other as an inhabitant of the 

 mountains, or at least more upland as well as more 

 southerly than the other ; yet it is not improbable 

 that there is a third species, more resembling the 

 common bear of the eastern continent than either of 

 the others. This species prowls about in the open 

 wastes ; and therefore it has been styled 



5. THE BARREN GROUND BEAR ( Ursus arctos Ame- 

 ricamts). Whether there is any structural distinction 

 between this and the other American bears, has not 

 been very clearly ascertained. Indeed the structural 

 distinctions of bears differ much less than those of 

 almost any genus ; the chief ones, colour arid size 

 apart, being the facial line (which is not indented 

 at the eyes in the American species), and the greater 

 or less production of the hair and claws, the former 

 of which may be the effect of climate, though it is 

 not easy to see how climate could produce the latter. 

 The bears which are found on the barren plains (that 

 is, the woodless districts) of North America, are lighter 

 in the colour than the climbing bears of the woods ; 

 and the Indians, who are their principal historians, 

 represent them as being much more ferocious and 

 dangerous. In this respect there is no reason to 

 doubt the testimony of the Indians ; but the ferocity 

 may in part arise from the greater excitement to 

 which the animals are exposed in those open places. 



That bears become torpid when the temperature 

 sinks to a certain point, shows that they are, notwith- 

 standing the thickness of their covering, very sensi- 

 tive to the action of the weather ; and the bears in 

 question are much more exposed both to common 

 atmospheric action and to light, than those which 

 inhabit the woods. It is therefore natural to suppose 

 that, during the summer at least, their system is in 

 a state of higher and more constant excitement ; and 

 if this be true, and it certainly is true, of the whole 

 system, it must be true also of the appetite for food ; 

 and as those bears have to range more in quest of 

 their food than the woodland bears, that again must 

 increase their activity, and consequently their vora- 

 city. They thus, in some measure, approximate in 

 character to the polar bear ; and partially also to 

 the grisly bear of the mountains, which is more 

 a ground hunter than a climber. 



Bears of this description prowl much on the shores 

 of the northern sea, and divide the spoil with the 

 white bears. One mentioned by Dr. Richardson, 



had in its stomach portions of a seal and a marmot, 

 and also some grass and berries, showing that, in this 

 instance, bruin had dined in style having two courses 

 with vegetables and a desert ; and though the seal 

 cannot strictly be considered as fish, yet being a 

 marine animal, it may pass muster as a substitute. 

 This compound shows, at all events, that these bears 

 are pretty ravenous as well as miscellaneous in their 

 feeding. Still it is not very probable that they will 

 attack human beings unless very much pressed with 

 hunger, except indeed those whom they may see 

 endeavouring to escape by flight. 



It is this last circumstance which renders the bear 

 so dangerous an animal to those who are not well- 

 armed with weapons, and especially with presence of 

 mind. It has been stated in the case of some other 

 animals, and it is confirmed in this, that flight in the 

 prey is one of the main causes of pursuit in the 

 preyer ; and though it is doubtful whether any of 

 these bears ever unprovokedly attacked a human being 

 when advancing upon it, there is little doubt that 

 they will follow, and endeavour to capture either man 

 or animal when they seek safety by flight. When 

 Mr. Drmnmond was botanising among the wild rocks 

 in the northern parts of America, he sometimes, at 

 the turning of a rock, found himself almost close upon 

 a grisly bear ; but Drummond is as remarkable for 

 presence of mind and philosophical courage as for 

 love of science, and therefore he outfaced bruin with- 

 out irritating him ; and when the bear found that Mr. 

 Drummond would neither fight nor fly, he took to his 

 heels, and left the naturalist master of the field. If he 

 happened to see them at greater distance, he got rid 

 of them more readily, by simply drumming on the tin 

 box in which he carried his specimens. This, though 

 we believe it happened chiefly with the grisly bear, 

 may be considered as the general character of all the 

 species, and of course of the barren-ground bear 

 among the rest. 



It is worthy of remark, and not of remark merely, 

 but of careful investigation and study, that there ap- 

 pears to be in the north-east of Europe, and more 

 especially in the north of Asia, a species, or variety, 

 or modification of the land bear, very similar to the 

 American one now under consideration. Like that 

 it is found chiefly to the northward of the woods, 

 near the margin of the sea, bordering closely with 

 the white bear, and approximating somewhat to that 

 bear in colour, and, as it is said, in disposition. The 

 data are not sufficient for determining whether this 

 intermediate bear is or is not entitled to systematic 

 distinction as a species : but whether it be a species 

 or not, its existence is established by the testimony of 

 those who range the plains which it inhabits, and its 

 character, and the characters of those places, appear 

 very much to resemble each other in the two conti- 

 nents, if they are not perfectly identical, at least in 

 so far as the animals are concerned. 



This is a point of some importance in natural his- 

 tory, inasmuch as it shows that there is perfect iden- 

 tity, or acknowledged sameness of species, in those 

 bears which inhabit nearest the pole ; and that as we 

 proceed southward the resemblance between those of 

 the two continents becomes less and less. At the 

 same time there is a departure from the appearance of 

 the polar bear, though the species of corresponding 

 climates have still some resemblance to each other. 

 The colour is first pale brown ; then it passes to soot 

 black ; the latter continues as the prevailing colour in 



