i8 2 FLESH-EATERS OF THE LAND 



erect upon the hind feet and strike with the armed fore 

 paws. The power of the Bear's stroke is terrible, and is the 

 more to be dreaded because it is as quick as it is strong. No 

 trained boxer can deliver a blow more swift or more true 

 than that of the Bear. Many writers assert that it clasps 

 its antagonist in its arms, and squeezes him with such force 

 that it drives all the breath out of his body. It is almost 

 useless to attack a Bear with a club or the stock of a rifle. 

 The Bear wards off the blows with perfect ease, strikes 

 the weapon out of the hands of its assailant, and then 

 closes to claw and bite rather than hug him. 



In food most Bears are omnivorous, and are exceedingly 

 fond of fruit ; and, as Mr. Lloyd, a well-known Bear-hunter, 

 tells us of the Brown Bear, 'he feeds on roots and the 

 leaves and small limbs of the aspen, mountain ash, and other 

 trees. He is also fond of succulent plants, such as the 

 mountain thistle, &c,, and partial to many berries common 

 to the Scandinavian forests. Ripe corn he also eats, and 

 sometimes commits no small havoc among it ; for, seating 

 himself on his haunches in a field of it, he collects in his 

 outstretched arms nearly a sheaf at a time, the ears of which 

 he then devours/ 



Cattle-owners have but little fear of the Bear, for it much 

 prefers vegetable food varied occasionally with wasp and 

 bee grubs to the flesh of animals ; but now and then 

 a Bear does take to cattle-killing, and then becomes the 

 terror of the neighbourhood, and must be destroyed. The 

 usual mode of killing the Bear in Scandinavia is by a shall, 

 i.e., by finding its den, surrounding the spot with a large 

 body of armed men, and then closing upon the animal from 

 all sides. The flesh of the Bear being very good to eat, and 

 its skin always fetching a high price, a successful skall repays 

 the hunters for their trouble. Bears' paws are considered a 

 great delicacy, and after being salted and smoked were often 

 reserved for the tables of princes in Germany. Occasionally 

 Bear's flesh is obtainable in London, where it is eaten 

 chiefly out of curiosity. 



The Bears of Russia in particular are of great size, and in 

 winter their coats are in magnificent condition, and are in 

 great request among Russian nobles for warm sledge rugs. 



