BEARS. 



u 



smaller than the European. Exact measurements of large European examples 

 are not easy to obtain, but it is probable that some specimens reach at least 

 8 feet from the tip of the snout to the root of the tail. In the Himalaya the 

 same dimensions are not generally more than 5 or 5J feet, but large specimens 

 reach about 7 feet, and one has been recorded of 7J feet in length and 3 feet 5 

 inches in height. The tail does not measure more than 2 or 3 inches. 



The brown bear may be regarded as an inhabitant of almost the whole of 

 Europe, and of Asia northwards of the Himalaya ; its former range extending 

 from the British Islands and Spain in the west to Kamschatka in the east. 

 Bears are still found in the Pyrenees, and are comparatively common in many 

 parts of Scandinavia, Germany, Hungary, and Russia. At what date they 

 finally disappeared from the British Islands cannot be determined. Mr. Harting, 

 however, adduces evi- 

 dence to show that bears 

 were still in existence in 

 the eighth century; and, 

 in the time of Edward the 

 Confessor, the town of 

 Norwich had to furnish 

 annually one bear to the 

 king. There is no decisive 

 historical evidence as to 

 the existence of bears in 

 Ireland, but remains have 

 been found there in 

 various parts, which in all 

 probability belonged to 

 the x present species, al- 

 though they have been 

 referred by some to the 

 American grizzly bear. 



In the Himalaya the 



brown bear is found from Afghanistan in the west to Nipal in the east. It does 

 not occur in the more or less Tibetan districts of Zanskar and Ladak, but 

 extends up the valley of the Indus as far as Gilgit. In the mountains around the 

 valley of Kashmir brown bears were once very numerous, but they have, I believe, 

 become much rarer now. When I first knew Kashmir, in 1874, it was no 

 uncommon event in the Tilel district to see several at once, when standing on a 

 mountain ridge ; but eight years later I saw but very few the whole time I was 

 there, and it would be interesting to hear the reports of sportsmen who have 

 recently visited Tilel and the neighbouring valleys. 



In Kamschatka, Dr. Guillemard, in the Cruise of the Marchesa, speaks of 

 brown bears being extremely plentiful and attaining large dimensions. The 

 country near the rivers is there covered by an almost impenetrable jungle, but the 

 bears manage to force themselves through it without much apparent difficulty. 

 " Just inside the forest," writes Dr. Guillemard, " at a distance of six or eight feet 



HEAD OF BROWN BEAR. (From Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1867.) 



