12 CARNIVORES. 



from the river-bank, is a firmly-trodden path some two feet in width, made 

 entirely by these animals ; and, as these paths are to be found without a break 

 on either side of the river in its whole course through the forest country a dis- 

 tance of about five hundred miles it will be understood why bears' skins do not 

 command a very high price in the peninsula." 



The brown bear is a comparatively unsociable animal, though not unfrequently 

 a male and a female may be seen together, while the females are, of course, 

 accompanied by their cubs. Their favourite haunts are wooded, hilly districts. 

 In the Himalaya the brown bear is to be found at considerable elevations, in the 

 spring haunting the higher birch and deodar forests, while in the late summer it 

 ascends to the open grass-lands above, where it may not unfrequently be seen 

 grazing close to herds of ponies and flocks of sheep or goats. Both in these regions, 

 and the colder districts of Europe and Northern Asia, these bears regularly 

 hibernate ; and while they are extremely fat at the commencement of their winter 

 sleep, they are reduced to little more than skin and bone at its conclusion. In 

 the Himalaya the winter's sleep generally lasts till April or May, but varies some- 

 what in different districts according to the date at which the snow melts. The 

 cubs are generally born during the latter part of the hibernation, and accompany 

 the mother when she issues forth. They are almost invariably two in number, 

 and are born blind and naked, in which condition they remain for about 

 four weeks. In Europe the brown bear not unfrequently kills and eats other 

 animals, its depredations extending, it is said, even to cattle and ponies ; but in the 

 Himalaya, except when carcases come in its way, the animal is almost exclusively 

 an insect and vegetable feeder. There it is fond of the numerous species of 

 bulbous plants growing on the mountains around Kashmir; but it will also 

 descend into the orchards of the upland villages to plunder the crops of 

 mulberries, apricots, walnuts, etc. On such occasions it ascends the trees readily 

 enough, although it is by no means such a good climber as its cousin the Himalayan 

 black bear. It seeks for insects by overturning stones. 



In Kamschatka the brown bear is stated to subsist for a certain portion 

 of the year upon salmon; Dr. Guillemard observing that in some places he 

 met with numerous half-eaten fish left by the bears, and adding that he found 

 in almost every .instance that " though the head had been crunched up, it had, 

 together with the tail and intestines, invariably been rejected. We were never 

 fortunate enough to witness these animals fishing, but we were told that they 

 walk slowly into the water, where it is about eighteen inches in depth, and, facing 

 down stream, motionless await their prey. The incautious fish, swimming heed- 

 lessly up the river, doubtless mistake the bear's broad legs for a rock or tree-stump, 

 and those who have once witnessed the almost lightning-like rapidity of a stroke 

 from Bruin's fore-paws will have no difficulty whatever in completing the drama 

 for themselves. The fish is apparently always taken to the bank to be devoured, 

 for even the small ones do not appear to be eaten whole." 



As we have already had occasion to mention, the brown bear, in common with 

 its relatives, is dull of hearing, and it is also by no means well gifted as regards 

 sight. What it lacks in these respects it makes up for, however, in the great 

 development of the sense of smell. Owing to this deficiency of hearing, a bear can 



