606 Great and Small Game of Africa 



by Mr. Selous 1 of a bull of the latter being tackled by a single hunting- 

 dog is most interesting and curious. 



I have taken pups from the breeding burrows (these are never excavated, 

 though frequently enlarged, by the hunting-dogs) in March, at 4000 feet 

 elevation, when they were a fortnight old, and in June, July, and September, 

 at 1000 feet elevation, when from one month to two months old. This 

 would point to March -May as their breeding season ; but I am of opinion 

 that they have no regular season. I have twice seen a litter of four, once 

 of six, and once of eight ; in the latter case the natives assured me that the 

 hole was occupied by two bitches. The young can be partially tamed, but 

 are always suspicious, and very apt to snap. I have kept several. One was 

 a keen and successful hunter, and always went foraging on his own account, 



but would never consent to hunt with my dogs. 



F. Vaughan Kirby. 



THE BEARS 



Family Ursid^. Genus Ursus 



From other Carnivora, the members of the bear tribe are broadly 

 differentiated by their heavy and clumsy build, plantigrade feet, rudiment- 

 ary tails, remarkably narrow muzzles, thick and generally shaggy fur, and, 

 above all, by the peculiar characters of their skulls and teeth. The latter, 

 forty-two in number, are remarkable for the slight development of the 

 cutting power of the carnassial teeth, the whole series of hinder cheek- 

 teeth having broad, tuberculated crowns, far better suited to the mastica- 

 tion of roots and fruits than to the mincing of flesh. Bears are totally 

 absent from the greater part of Africa, their only representative on the 

 continent being the still imperfectly known African brown bear ([/. arctits 

 crowtheri) of the Atlas, which is apparently only a more or less well- 

 marked variety of the common brown bear of Europe. 



1 A Hunter 'j U\i>uln-i>;p, pp. 356 El S£q. 



