38 THE STORY OF THE BEAR. 



claws into the body of its victim, causing terrible wounds, but the idea of 

 its "hugging" appears not confirmed by recent observers. 



At the best, a brown bear is uncouth and grotesque in its movements, 

 and in no case is this more marked than when one of these animals suddenly 

 catches a whiff of human scent, and starts ofT with a loud "whuff" at a 

 shambling gallop. In spite, however, of their uncouthness, bears can travel 

 pretty quickly when so minded, although their usual gait is deliberate in the 

 extreme. 



The brown bear is easily tamed, and both in Europe and India is the com- 

 panion of itinerant showmen, by whom it is taught to dance, and go through 

 various other performances. Xs showing the age to which the brown bear 

 may live, it is worthy of mention that one kept in the garden at Berne sur- 

 vived for upwards of forty-seven years, while it is on record that a female 

 gave birth to young at the age of thirty-one years. From the beauty of their 

 color, and the length of their fur, the skins of the Himalayan brown bear, if 

 procured early in the spring, are held in high estimation. 



The inhabitants of Northern Europe hunt the brown bear with much 

 skill, and take it in traps and pitfalls, availing themselves of its love for 

 honey. There exists a practice of placing the hive in a tree, and planting- 

 long spikes round its foot. A heavy log of wood is then suspended by a 

 cord just before the entrance of the hive, and the trap is complete. 



The bear scents the honey, and comes to look at the tree. The spikes 

 rather astonish him, but he sniffs his way through them, and commences the 

 ascent. When he has reached the hive, he is checked by the log hanging 

 before the entrance; this he finds movable, and pushes aside, but it is just 

 so long that a mere push will not entirely remove it, so he gives it a tre- 

 mendous pat, and looks in at the entrance. Just as he has succeeded in 

 putting his nose to the hive, the log returns and hits him very hard on the 

 head. This makes him exceedingly angry, and he pokes it away harder than 

 ever, only to return with a more severe blow than before. 



He now has a regular fight with the log, hitting it first to one side and 

 then to the other, the perverse block invariably striking his head every time, 

 until at last a severer blow than usual knocks him fairly off the tree on to the 

 spikes below. 



THE GRIZZLY BEAR. 



The gigantic grizzly bear of Western North America, whose range 

 extends from Alaska through the Rocky Mountains to Mexico, is gen- 



