FAMILY URSID^E; BEARS. 227 



destroying them afterwards by tearing the neck and throat in 

 the same manner as the Weasel. The old accounts of the ex- 

 traordinary voracity of the Glutton, or Wolverine, as it is some- 

 times more appropriately called, are certainly to be regarded to a 

 very great extent as fabulous, and although, like the Polecats, 

 which it so much resembles in some respects, it is probably of a 

 bloodthirsty disposition, the animal does not appear to be more 

 gluttonously disposed than its allies. It fights very resolutely ; 

 and its great strength renders it more than a match for a single 

 Dog of its own size. 



199. The animals of the family URSID.E are, of all the Gar- 

 ni vora, those which are most omnivorous in their diet, some of 

 them living almost entirely upon vegetable food, and nearly 

 all being capable of supporting themselves upon it. Most of 

 them are expert climbers ; they conceal themselves in caves, in 

 holes of the earth, and in hollow trees ; and in such retreats they 

 usually pass the winter in a state bordering on torpidity, and 

 there the female brings forth her young. The characters of the 

 family are most strongly marked in the animals of the genus 

 Ursus or Bear ; which are distinguished by their ponderous 

 bulk, massive limbs, and heavy gait. They are completely plan- 

 tigrade in their walk, and can rear themselves without difficulty 

 on their hind-legs. They have large claws, which are adapted 

 for digging, and which are powerful weapons of attack and de- 

 fence ; these are not retractile. Bears are for the most part un- 

 social animals, frequenting the recesses of mountains and caverns, 

 and the depths of the forests. They are expert climbers, ascend- 

 ing trees and rocks with great dexterity. The food of the dif- 

 ferent species varies in some degree ; being almost exclusively 

 vegetable in some species, such as the American Black Bear, which 

 will not touch animal flesh, if vegetable aliment can be obtained ; 

 whilst it is almost as exclusively animal in others, such as the 

 Polar Bear. Even the most carnivorous of them, however, will 

 seldom attack Man, unless provoked to do so by aggression, or 

 strongly incited by hunger; but when attacked, they become 

 vory formidable opponents, displaying greater activity and address 



than might be expected from their heavy clumsy figures. 



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