118 CARNIVORA FISSIPEDIO. 



is also comparatively common in many parts of Scan- 

 dinavia, Hungary and Russia. In Kamschatka it is very 

 plentiful and attains to large dimensions. 



The Brown or Common Bear of Europe has a convex 

 forehead; on the cubs the fur is woolly, but grows 

 smoother with age and changes from its original whitish 

 color to varying shades of brown, or a greyish hue, in 

 some specimens bordering on the silver. All the young 

 havei a white collar which in some varieties remains 

 through life. There is also considerable variation in 

 height, without any fixed relation to age and sex. This 

 animal inhabits the lofty mountains and great forests of 

 Europe and Asia, and lodges high up in the trees; the 

 coupling season is in June, and the young are produced 

 in January. When young the flesh of this animal is 

 esteemed a delicacy and the paws are good eating at all 

 ages. 



The favorite haunts of this species are wooded, hilly 

 districts, and in the higher latitudes they hibernate regu- 

 larly in the winter. They are unsociable animals, but occa- 

 sionally a male and female will be seen together accom- 

 panied by their cubs. In some sections they kill and eat 

 other animals, but generally speaking the Brown Bears 

 are insect and vegetable feeders. In Kamschatka they 

 are said to subsist largely on salmon. In pursuing the 

 salmon a Bear will walk slowly into the water to a depth 

 of about eighteen inches, and facing down stream will 

 wait motionless for its prey; the careless fish swimming 

 up the river mistakes the Bear's legs for tree stumps, and 

 so falls an unconscious victim to the lightning stroke of 

 the Bear's forepaw. 



The Brown Bear is uncouth in appearance and move- 

 ment, but it can travel pretty fast in a shambling kind 

 of a gallop. It never voluntarily attacks a human being, 

 but when angered it is capable of inflicting terrible in- 

 juries when thrashing around with its paws. From its 

 anatomical construction there would seem to be little 

 foundation for the stories told of its hugging powers. 

 Is is easily tamed and taught to perform tricks. It is re- 

 markable for its longevity, some of the species having 

 been known to live over forty years, and a case is re- 

 corded of a female Brown Bear giving birth to a cub at 

 the age of thirty-two years. 



