114 



THE BROWN BEAR. 



of October the Bear has completed its winter house, and ceases feeding 

 for the year. 



A curious phenomenon now takes place in the animal's digestive 

 organs, which gives it the capability of remaining through the entire 

 winter in a state of lethargy, without food, and yet without losing 

 condition. 



From the end of October to the middle of April the Bear remains in 

 his den, in a dull lethargic state of existence ; and it is a curious fact 

 that if a hibernating Bear be discovered and killed in its den, it is 

 quite as fat as if it had been slain before it retired to its resting-place. 



Experienced hunters 

 buy that even at the 

 end of its five months' 

 sleep the Bear is as 

 fat as at its beginning. 

 Sometimes it is said 

 that the Bear par- 

 tially awakes, and in 

 that case it immedi- 

 f^^s's^^^'^^^BI^^HfmBH^^BHHIl^^^ ately loses its sleek 



condition, and be- 

 comes extremely thin. 

 During the winter the 

 Bear gains a new skin 



"^^ '' ^ ' ^■' "Z"' . X on the balls of the 



The Brown Bbau {Ursus Arc(os), ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^ ^loyd 



suggests that the curious habit of sucking the paws, to which Bears are 

 so prone, is in order to facilitate the growth of the new integument. 



The Bear is possessed of several valuable accomplishments, being a 

 wonderful climber of trees and rocks, an excellent swimmer, and a good 

 digger. 



The number of cubs which the female Bear produces is from one to 

 four, and they are very small during the first few^ days of their existence. 

 They make their appearance at the end of January or the beginning 

 of February, and it is a curious fact that, although the mother has at 

 the time been deprived of food for nearly three mouths, and does not 

 take any more until the spring, she is able to afl'ord ample nourishment 

 to her young without suffering any apparent diminution in her condi- 

 tion. It is said, by those who have had personal experience of the 

 habits of the Bear, that the mother takes the greatest care of her off- 

 spring during the summer, but that when winter approaches she does 

 not suffer them to partake of her residence, but prepares winter-quar- 

 ters for them in her immediate neighborhood. During the winter 

 another little family is born, and when they issue forth from their 



