246 



THE BEASTS OF PREY. 



the western Himalaya mountains. Extensive, nearly 

 inaccessible, or at least little frequented forests, rich 

 in berries and other fruits, are a prime condition for 

 his existence. Hollows in trees or under their roots, 

 caverns, dark, impenetrable thickets and swamps 

 with dry islands afford him shelter and protection 

 from Man, his deadly enemy. 

 Physical Quali- The Brown Bear, the clumsiest and 



ties of Brown heaviest of the predaceous animals 

 Bears. f Europe, is, like most of his near 



relatives, an unwieldy and rather dull-witted fellow. 

 But he really looks clumsier than he is. He goes at 

 an ambling pace, that is, he lifts both limbs of the 

 same side at once in walking and trotting, his gait 

 in consequence appearing uncouth, waddling and 

 sprawling. When hurried, he goes at a gallop, 

 overtaking Man with ease, and in other respects 

 displays a degree of speed and activity not gen- 

 erally credited to him. He is an excellent swimmer 

 and climber, but in old age, when he is large and 

 heavy, he gives up the latter accomplishment; or, at 

 least, does not climb smooth trees devoid of boughs. 

 His powerful muscles and strong, hard talons much 

 facilitate his climbing, and he will sometimes even 

 mount very steep, rocky walls. Of his senses, hear- 

 ing and smelling seem to be the most acute. His 

 sight is rather deficient, though his eyes cannot be 

 called weak. His sense of taste seems to be quite 

 well developed. 



Forester Forester Krementz has lately pub- 



Krementz on lished his experiences of many years 

 the Bear. with the Bears living in the Rokitno 

 swamps. His book is very instructive, but he par- 

 ticularly states that he does not know whether his 

 observations will also apply to Bears of other 

 regions. "In general," says he, "the Bear cannot 

 be called cruel or bloodthirsty. If he were, he 

 would find daily opportunities for exercising his 

 instincts, and taking into account his formidable 

 strength, the question would present itself, as to 

 whether it would not be advisable to persecute him 

 more. I have not met with a single case where he 

 would have taken the offensive in his rencontres 

 with Man on his wanderings. On the contrary, he 

 usually seeks safety in flight on such occasions, or 

 else, in the consciousness of his power, he pays no 

 attention to the miserable inhabitant of the earth, or 

 at the most vents his displeasure by a sham attack 

 accompanied by short growls. The Bear is rather a 

 good-natured animal, though he is not to be trusted 

 under any circumstances. He especially objects to 

 being provoked or disturbed in his rest. He is of 

 a very phlegmatic temper, is exceedingly fond of 

 being comfortable, and his attacks always display a 

 certain frank, open-hearted, chivalrous disposition, 

 which has nothing in common with the cowardly 

 cruelty of the Wolf or the deceiving, treacherous 

 attack of the Lynx. In certain isolated cases he is 

 even possessed of a certain kind of grim humor." 

 Food and A single glance at the Bear's teeth 



Depredations teaches us that he is an omnivorous 

 of Bears. animal and more of a vegetable than 

 an animal feeder. He is best compared to the Pig: 

 everything edible is welcome to him. As a usual 

 thing, plants form his principal food, small animals, 

 such as insects, Snails and the like constituting the 

 dessert. For months he may be satisfied with such 

 food, gorging himself with young, budding rye or 

 juicy grass like a Cow, feeding on ripening grain, 

 buds, fruit, acorns, berries and mushrooms; digging 

 up an occasional Ant-hill, delighting in the larvae or 



the Ants themselves, whose peculiar acid taste may 

 be to his liking. Sometimes he scents a Bee-hive, 

 which provides him with an exceedingly welcome 

 feast. In southern Carinthia the Bee-hives are car- 

 ried into the mountains in summer, and according 

 to the season at which the various plants of the Alps 

 bloom, they are placed higher or lower on the moun- 

 tain. Sometimes a Bear comes over from Craniola 

 and then works sad havoc, breaking the hives and 

 emptying them. A few years ago one such strag- 

 gler roamed from one Bee-house to another destroy- 

 ing over a hundred of them; eight belonged to the 

 narrator, Forester Wippel. The attacks of Bees are 

 by no means a matter of indifference to him; he 

 growls with pain, rolls on the ground, tries to rub 

 the tormentors off with his paws, and if he can stand 

 it no longer he even makes his escape and retires 

 into the forest or into the water, but only to return 

 sooner or later and resume the struggle for his 

 favorite dainty. 

 How one Brown It is impossible to follow a Bear 

 Bear Spent about on his daily wanderings in 

 His Day. order to watch his doings ; and the 

 chance meetings one has with him, even when await- 

 ing him at his favorite resorts or drinking places, 

 are of too short duration to throw much light on the 

 mode of life of the Bears, which as yet is steeped in 

 darkness in many respects. The fresh spoor in dew 

 or hoar frost are of great use as furnishing an insight 

 into the daily life of Bears, so we will here give the 

 result of following such spoor : " A Bear of medium 

 size crossed a meadow early in the morning; at its 

 edge there lay a fallen pine tree, which he turned 

 over, scratching the earth under it in several places 

 in his search for worms, grubs and larvae. The 

 bark of the two year old tree had been torn away in 

 a few places, and his soul had been delighted by the 

 fat grubs and Beetles under it. His further prog- 

 ress through the forest was made clear by foliage 

 scratched away, Ant-hills thrown about, wood and 

 bark turned over, and plucked blue-berries, cran- 

 berries and mushrooms. In several places he had 

 scratched up the earth on finding fresh sign of 

 Deer. Following the Deer tracks, he had trotted 

 on; then he went in the direction of a swamp, 

 proceeded about one hundred paces, suddenly 

 turned to the left, went back to the wood he had 

 just come from, and made a jamp at a few Hazel- 

 Hens, as was shown by the feathers the birds had 

 lost in their hurried flight from the sudden attack. 

 Then he again turned his face to the swamp and 

 crossed it in a straight direction without any notable 

 incident. He again entered the wood, tore an 

 empty Thrush-nest from a bush, then used his teeth 

 and claws in the endeavor to enlarge the aperture 

 of a hollow oak, in which a swarm of wild Bees had 

 stored their honey, ate some blue-berries, sniffed at 

 the entrance of a Badger's burrow, and made him- 

 self conspicuous by running back and forth on a 

 grassy plot. A closer investigation showed the sign 

 of young Woodcocks, whose track he had zealously 

 pursued. From here he crossed a swampy, dense 

 alder-tree forest, then entered a forest of old pine 

 trees, tore the bark off the lower half of a dead pine, 

 scratched up the earth and sat down on it, the ground 

 also showing a great many imprints of the claws and 

 soles of the forepaws. Then he set his face toward 

 a buckwheat field, which he crossed, and then entered 

 a district of soft-wood trees and pines, situated on 

 low land and abounding in cut trees; he seemed to 

 prefer the parts where the trees were cut, crept 



