172 NATURAL HISTORY. 



the adjacent islands of Borneo, Sumatra, and Java. It is much smaller than the Himalayan Bear s 

 not exceeding four feet and a half in length. The fur is black, becoming brownish on the nose, and 

 the chest is marked with a crescentic white mark, or, in the Bornean variety of the species, by a 

 heart-shaped, orange-coloured patch. The claws are remarkably long. 



The habits of the two species differ but little. In summer, according to Dr. Jerdon, the 

 Sun Bear "is generally found at a considerable elevation, nine to twelve thousand feet or so, and 

 often close to snow ; but in winter it descends to five thousand feet, and even lower sometimes. It 

 lives chiefly on fruits and roots, apricots, walnuts, apples, currants, &c. ; also on several grains, 

 barley, Indian corn, buckwheat, &c. ; and in winter chiefly feeds on various acorns, climbing the 

 oak trees and breaking down the branches. . . . They are very fond of honey. Now and then 

 they will kill Sheep, Goats, &c., and are occasionally said to eat flesh. . . . This Bear has bad 

 eyesight, but great power of smell, and if approached from windward is sure to take alarm. A. 

 wounded Bear will sometimes show fight, but in general it tries to escape. It is said sometimes to 

 roll itself into the form of a ball, and then roll down steep hills, if frightened or wounded. If met 

 suddenly, when there is no means of escape, it will attack man at once ; and curious to say, it always 

 makes for the face, sometimes taking off most of the hairy scalp, and frightfully disfiguring the 

 unfortunate sufferer. There are few villages in the interior where one or more individuals thus 

 mutilated are not to be met with."* 



The Sun Bears are distinguished in menageries for their gift of walking about on their hind 

 legs, which they do in a curiously human manner. This mode of progression seems sometimes to be 

 adopted in the wild state. Both species are noticeable, in their state of captivity in the Zoological 

 Gardens, for the antics they perform. The Himalayan Bears play with one another like two 

 awkward boys, stand on their hind legs to wrestle, then fall down, and roll over and over, biting and 

 hugging in the most laughable manner. The Malayan Bear is even more amusing. When the 

 keeper gives it one of the hard biscuits on which it is fed, it will sometimes lie down on its back, 

 and hold the biscuit now with its fore paws, now with both fore and hind paws, swaying about all 

 the time, and expressing its satisfaction by the most comical noises. 



Mr. Swinhoe quotes some curious notions entertained by the Chinese respecting the Sun Bear. 

 They are contained in the native publication already referred to, TJie Hainan Gazetteer. " Heirng 

 [or Bear] is fond of climbing trees and panting. Its gall in spring is in its heel, in summer in its 

 belly, in autumn in its left paw, in winter in its right paw. About its heart there is a white fat, like 

 jade, the taste of which is extremely fine : this is usually called ' Bear's white.' In winter the Bear 

 lies torpid, and does not eat. "When hungry, it licks its own paws, and thence the goodness in 

 the paws." 



THE SLOTH BEAE.f 



This curious and ungainly-looking beast is another of the Indian Bears, being found " throughout 

 India and Ceylon, from Cape Comorin to the Ganges." It is distinguished by its extremely awkward 

 shape, its long shaggy hair, its prolonged and very flexible snout and lower lip, all of which peculiarities 

 combine to give it a remarkable and anything but prepossessing appearance. The fur is mostly black, 

 the muzzle and the tips of the feet being of a dirty white or yellowish colour, and the breast ornamented 

 with a Y-shaped or crescentic mark. It attains a length of between five and six feet. 



The Sloth Bear feeds on Ants, honey, fruit, &c. " The power of suction in the Bear, as well as 

 of propelling wind from its mouth, is very great. It is by this means enabled to procure its common 

 food of white Ants and larvae with ease. On airiving at an Ant-hill, the Bear scrapes away with the fore 

 feet until he reaches the large combs at the bottom of the galleries. He then, with violent puffs, dissipates 

 the dust and crumbled particles of the nest, and sucks out the inhabitants of the comb by such forcible 

 inhalations as to be heard at two hundred yards' distance or more. Large larvae are in this way sucked 

 out from great depths under the soil. When Bears abound their vicinity may be readily known by 

 numbers of these uprooted Ants' nests and excavations, in which the marks of their claws are plainly 

 visible. They occasionally rob birds' nests, and devour the eggs."J 



* Jerdon: "Mammals of India." t Ursus (or Melurms) labiatus. J Tickell, quoted by Jerdon. 





