442 EASTERN EUROPE 



companied by drifts, seeming to make a great impression on them. As if by 

 magic, they all hide away forthwith, so that no bear-tracks are seen on the first 

 snow. In a few days, however, they reappear, but seem anxious and ill at ease, 

 and soon make a start for their permanent refuge : on such journeys they 

 almost always follow the same track year by year. Some bears, mostly old ones, 

 remain during the winter in their own district, while others travel long distances 

 from their summer to their winter haunt of sometimes as much as thirty or forty 

 miles, or even more. In the Rokitno district bears usually enter their retreat 

 between the 10th November and 1st December, although here, too, the date 

 depends on the weather. While some hasten straight to their quarters, others 

 approach them in a roundabout fashion, halting at recognised spots on the way. 



The lair, which is kept for many years, is usually occupied by only one bear. 

 She-bears with cubs always keep together, and are sometimes joined by another 

 bear. Sometimes young bears, probably after having lost their mother, invade the 

 territory of an old male. If a district satisfy its requirements, a bear is by no 

 means afraid of the vicinity of human dwellings. In the Rokitno marshes bears 

 will take up their quarters in low-lying swampy districts, although on raised spots, 

 which enable them, both when quitting in the spring and while the surroundings 

 are partly under water, to keep on dry land. The lair is always more or less 

 sheltered ; glades free from dense undergrowth or fallen timber, marshland, bogs, 

 or meadows never harbour bears in winter. Where, however, there is much fallen 

 timber in pine districts, in plantations of young trees, among willows, and among 

 shrubs, bears may be expected. When possible they choose a slight depression 

 for their lair ; and to ensure protection from wind a favourite place is under the 

 branching roots of some fallen tree. Sometimes they form the depression by 

 scraping away the earth or snow ; at others, however, they lie on the bare snow 

 behind or between fallen timber. In the Rokitno marsh a bear once broke up a 

 stack of wood, in the midst of which he made himself a lair of branches ; and 

 in the same district these animals often take possession of the troughs dug in 

 summer to supply water. In Transylvania they winter in holes or hollow trees, 

 or amid wind-fallen timber and thickets. Holes in the ground, if too small, are 

 enlarged to a sufficient width ; cavities in rocks are preferred even to hollow trees. 

 In Transylvania holes dug by themselves are covered in such a manner with roots 

 and turf that the opening faces south or west. Hollow trees are cleared from 

 rotten wood ; and in the thickets bears will break down and cover themselves 

 with branches, and so let themselves be snowed up. 



In their lairs bears lie curled up, although not so much so that the head 

 touches the hind-quarters ; and when in confinement lie mostly in such a position 

 that they can rise quickly. Sometimes, however, they lie at full length, with their 

 hind-paws beneath the body and the fore-paws stretched forward close together 

 and supporting the head, which may be bent a little to one side. In such a 

 position they are found on level spots in fine sunny weather, or when disturbed 

 by a noise that has caused them to start up with the head raised. The winter 

 sleep of these animals cannot in any way be compared with that of other mammals, 

 such as the marmot and the dormouse, since it is extremely light, and hardly a 

 true sleep, but rather a drowsiness. During its continuance they never relax their 



