THE CAUCASUS 41 



are the best times to look for them, the man who with 

 moccasined feet will ' loaf ' slowly upward, standing still from 

 time to time to listen and to watch, will rarely go half a day 

 without a shot, at any rate in late autumn. 



Still hunting in October is the best way of obtaining game 

 in the forests by the Black Sea ; but later on in December, 

 when the berries are over, the fruit rotten and the chestnuts, 

 eaten, the bears ' house up ' (or hibernate), and the only chance 

 of getting any sport at all is with hounds ; even then pigs, 

 and roe deer will be your only quarry, and nine times out of 

 ten you will waste your day hunting wild cats or jackals, your 

 pack appearing to prefer these beasts to nobler game. 



The common bear of the Caucasus is a small brown bear, 

 like, but not as large as, his cousin of Russia, although I have 

 once killed a young specimen (full grown, but with teeth un- 

 worn) as light in colour and as large as the ordinary Russian 

 bear. As a rule the Caucasian bear is an inoffensive brute, 

 but, like all his race, he will every now and then turn upon his 

 assailants. I said above ' the common bear ' of the Caucasus, 

 and I said it advisedly; for, although I am aware that I may meet 

 with contradiction from high authorities, I am myself firmly per- 

 suaded that there is another variety of bear found, for the most 

 part in the highlands of Central Caucasus about Radcha, 

 Svanetia, and on the uplands of Ossetia, and the head-waters of 

 the Baksan, Tchegem and Tscherek, tributaries of the Terek. 



It may well be that these bears occur elsewhere in the 

 isthmus, but I have never seen them or their skins in the low- 

 lands by the Black Sea. The highland bear of the Caucasus, 

 whose tracks I have found over and over again among the 

 snow and ice far above timber level, is called ' Mouravitchka y 

 (the ' little ant-eater ') by the natives, who allege that he is as 

 savage as the common bear is pacific ; that he preys upon the 

 flocks and herds, which the ordinary bear never does ; that he 

 is much smaller and more active than his fruit-eating cousin 

 of the lowlands, and that his skin is greyish in colour, with a 

 broad white collar round the neck. The coat altogether re- 



