THE BROWN BEAR. 53 



and other trees, such succulent plants as angelica and mountain- 

 thistle, and devours, during the autumn, vast quantities of ripe 

 cranberries, blaeberries, raspberries, strawberries, cloudberries, 

 and others common to the Scandinavian forests ; and there 

 can be no doubt that he would be an ugly customer in a 

 fruit garden. Ripe corn he also eats, and, seating himself on 

 his haunches in a field, he collects, with his out-stretched arms, 

 nearly a sheaf of it at a time, and munches the ears at his 

 leisure. By way of condiment, he sucks honey plundering the 

 peasants of their bee-hives j and to subdue the excess of sweet- 

 ness, he ever and anon takes a mouthful of ants, of which the 

 taste is known to all amateurs of acids to be pungent. " If any 

 of these little creatures," says Professor Nillson, " sting him in, 

 a tender part, he becomes angry immediately, and scatters 

 around the whole ant-hill." This is scarcely decorous but Mr. 

 Lloyd says, " it may be perfectly true, for all I know to the con- 

 trary ; if so, however, I apprehend the bear is generally in an 

 ill-humour with the ants ; because, wherever I have met with 

 any of their nests at which the bear had been feeding, they had 

 most commonly been turned inside out." * 



The brown bear is also fond of flesh -, but vegetables and ants 

 compose his principal food. Indeed that excellent authority, 

 Mr. Falk, very justly observes, than an animal which is able to 

 devour a moderate-sized cow in twenty-four hours, would, if 

 flesh formed the chief part of its sustenance, destroy all the 

 herds in the country. He thinks that the destruction which the 

 bear commits among cattle is often owing to the latter attacking 

 him in the first instance j and that, when provoked by the bel- 

 lowing and pursuit, which not unfrequently commence as soon 

 as they get a view of him, he displays his superior strength, falls 

 foul of them, and feasts upon some of them before sunset. Mr. 

 Falk says bears may reside in the neighbourhood of cattle for 

 years without doing them any injury, if they will but keep quiet -, 

 yet it is notorious that they will sometimes visit herds solely 

 from the desire of prey. Young bears seldom molest cattle ; but 

 * Field Sports in the North of Europe. 



