THE BEAR. 387 



inhabited mountains. It chooses its den in the 

 most gloomy parts of the forest, in some cavern 

 that has been hollowed by time, or in the hollow 

 of some old enormous tree. There it retires 

 alone, and passes some months of the winter 

 without provisions, or without ever stirring abroad. 

 However, this animal is not entirely deprived of 

 sensation, like the bat or the dormouse, but seems 

 rather to subsist upon the exuberance of its for- 

 mer flesh, and only feels the calls of appetite, 

 when the fat it had acquired in summer begins 

 to be entirely wasted away. In this manner, 

 when the bear retires to its den to hide for the 

 winter, it is extremely fat, but at the end of forty 

 or fifty days, when it comes forth to seek for 

 fresh nourishment, it seems to have slept all its 

 flesh away. It is a common report, that during 

 this time they live by sucking their paws, which 

 is a vulgar error that scarcely requires confuta- 

 tion. These solitary animals couple in autumn, 

 but the time of gestation with the female is still 

 unknown. The female takes great care to pro- 

 vide a proper retreat for her young ; she secures 

 them in the hollow of a rock, and provides a bed 

 of hay in the wannest part of her den ; she brings 

 forth in winter, and the young ones begin to fol- 

 low her in spring. The male and female by no 

 means inhabit the same den ; they have each 

 their separate retreat, and seldom are seen to- 

 gether but upon the accesses of genial desire. 



The voice of the bear is a kind of growl, inter- 

 rupted with rage, which is often capriciously ex- 

 erted ; and though this animal seems gentle and 



