CHAPTER V. 

 BEARS. 



THEIR SIZE— SAVAGE DISPOSITION— MODE OF GETTING THEIR FAVOURITE FOOD 

 —THE BEAR IN HIS SUMMER HOUSE— MY FIRST BEAR— WHO THE DEUCE 

 ARE VOU ? — DANGER OF APPROACHING A WOUNDED BEAR— THREE BEARS 

 MARKED DOWN— WE TAKE OFF OUR BOOTS —I MISS STOPPING HIM— HE IS 

 UPON ME AT ONCE — A SHARP PINCH— A FUNNY ADVENTURE WITH AN OLD 

 SHE BEAR — I DIDN'T DO IT, MA— THE OLD DOG BEAR AND HIS WIFE— HABITS 

 OF WOUNDED BEARS. 



he Indian black bear (Ursus labiatus) the Rich 

 (pronounced Reech) of Southern India is, as 

 Hawkeye says, "a rum customer and dangerous- 

 but amusing and interesting from its queer ways and 

 eccentric habits." He is by some called the sloth bear, 

 but as the above author remarks " the heart of many a 

 sportsman when pursued by a wounded bear, would have 

 rejoiced had his movements partaken of the Genus Sloth." 

 The hair is very black, long and shaggy, the muzzle and tip 

 of the feet of a dull yellowish white with a white V shape mark 

 on the breast. The length of the old males, is, from five to 

 six feet and height about three feet. Hawkeye states that 

 the bears of the Northern Division about Berhampore appear 

 to be of a more savage disposition than the animals down 



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