262 THE TAPP. 



nothing whatever ; of which fact I was doubly assured, owing 

 to the snow lying thick on the ground the whole winter, 

 which would of course have told tales had any one gone near 

 to them. 



Much was said in the " Northern Sports " of the Tapp, 

 or plug, found in the winter time at the outer extremity 

 of the bear's rectum. This, according to the Scandinavian 

 Chasseurs, is the material cause of his total abstinence at 

 that season from all kinds of food. They assert, that so 

 long as it remains, he never shows the slightest inclination 

 to eat ; whereas, if so hard hunted as to void it, his appe- 

 tite immediately returns, and he becomes as voracious as 

 ever. English naturalists rather laugh at all this, and say 

 that the Tapp is only faeces, but I for my part cannot help 

 believing there is much truth in the story. 



Be the Tapp what it may, however, the bear, according 

 to Pallas, who obtained his information from the Russian 

 hunters, has much difficulty in parting with it in the spring. 

 " Its ejection," he says " causes the beast so much pain, 

 that during the process, he embraces a tree, deeply scoring 

 it in the while with his fangs and claws, and absolutely 

 shrieks with agony." And though I have never heard the 

 like story during my wanderings in the Scandinavian forests, 

 I am much inclined to believe in its truth ; for in the spring 

 time one frequently sees a solitary tree at no great distance 

 from the lair, recently left by the beast, marked in the way 

 described, a circumstance for which no one could account. 



The female bear evinces much affection for her young, 

 and in the summer time, at least, guards them most tenderly. 

 When accompanied by her cubs, she at that season is a 

 rather formidable animal. She then not unfrequently attacks 



