120 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
for the purpose, and deal forth upon them wholesale 
destruction. They will also trace them to their retreats 
in the season of their lethargy, which occupies several of 
the winter months, and during which the bears are 
incapable of offering any effectual resistance. 
In captivity the Black Bear is distinguished from the 
brown only by the less degree of docility and intelli- 
gence which he evinces: and the habits of the latter are 
so universally known that it would be useless to dwell 
upon them here. The specimen figured at the head of 
this article was presented to the Menagerie, in 1824, by 
Sir George Alderson, and is remarkably tame and play- 
ful. He has, until very lately, shared his den with the 
Hyena, with whom he maintained a very good corres- 
pondence, except at meal-times, when they would fre- 
quently quarrel, in a very ludicrous manner, for a piece 
of beef, or whatever else might happen to furnish a bone 
of contention between them. The Hyena, though by far 
the smallest of the two, was generally master; and the 
Bear would moan most piteously, and in a tone some- 
what resembling the bleating of a sheep, while his com- 
panion quietly consumed the remainder of his dinner. 
