160 CARNIVOEA. 



" Their young, which are generally two in number, 

 are not larger than rabbits, and make a footmark in the 

 snow no bigger than a crown-piece." 



EUSSIAX OR SIBERIAN BEAR. 



Ursus arctos. 



French : Ours de Russie. German : Russicher-Bar. 



This widely-distributed Bear is generally called the 

 Brown Bear, but it is in reality a Grizzly, as it is of a 

 greyish colour. It is darker, almost black, in some dis- 

 tricts, and paler in others ; but in nearl}- all specimens 

 the black and white longer hairs are perceptible, and 

 the white collar or spot on the neck is usually con- 

 spicuous. 



This Bear inhabits the Pyrenees, the Carpathian 

 Mountains of Austria, Transylvania (Gorgen}- Sz Imre), 

 Upper Hungary, and some parts of Switzerland. It 

 is common in Russia, the Caucasus, and parts of Nor- 

 way and Sweden. In the British Islands it is now 

 extinct but many centuries ago it was abundant, and 

 was hunted. 



Bear-baiting then formed a favourite pastime of our 

 forefathers, the English Bear, although small, being of 

 the same ferocious nature as its Russian and Asiatic 

 brother, and its cousin, the well-known Grizzly Bear of 

 the Rocky Mountains. The Bear was tied to a post and 

 allowed 40 feet of chain, within which limit no one was 

 allowed to enter. It was then attacked by dogs, which 

 M-ere thrown at it, the Bear defending itself, and often 

 hugging its opponents to death in its powerful arms. 

 In 1665, the year of the Plague, Bear-baiting was pro- 



