VARIETIES OF THE BEAR. 251 



" Every one who has had much experience in bear-hunting, 

 and who has got over the emotion, the hurried pulsation that 

 the sight of these imposing beasts is sure to produce, will 

 agree with me, that though it is desirable their numbers 

 should be kept within due bounds, the species, even had 

 one the means, ought not to be exterminated. 



"All true sportsmen must find enjoyment in a pursuit 

 not altogether free from danger, where courage and 

 address qualities not equally called forth in the chase 

 of other beasts common to Scandinavia are specially 

 required. 



" If any kind of hunting tends to harden the body, 

 strengthen the mind, and enable us to meet the dangers that 

 may cross our path in life, it is that of the bear; and the 

 man who calmly enters into combat with this king of the 

 forest, will not in all probability tremble at the sight of the 

 enemy's ranks." 



But prior to speaking of the chase of the bear, which 

 holds the same rank amongst the Scandinavian beasts of 

 prey, as the elk among deer, it may be desirable to devote a 

 chapter to his natural history, and the methods adopted for 

 his capture, &c., subjects well-nigh exhausted, however, in 

 the " Northern Sports." 



When that work was written, it was the opinion of 

 Nilsson and others, that there were two kinds of bears in 

 Scandinavia namely, the larger kind, Ursus Arctos major, 

 Nilss. (Slag-Bjorn, or bear of prey, Sw.), which lives indis- 

 criminately on vegetable or animal substances ; and the 

 smaller, Ursus Arctos minor, Nilss. (Myr-Bjorn, or ant- 

 bear, Sw.), that subsists entirely upon ants or vegetable 

 matter. It seems to be now pretty generally understood, 



