THE BEARS 77 



seize her by a sudden spring, but missed its aim and the prey 

 escaped. The chasing fox then came up, and finding that its prey 

 had got away through its associate's want of skill, it fell upon its 

 companion, and they both fought with so much fury that the person 

 who had been watching them came up and destroyed them both. 



We must find room for one other story of a fox's intelligence. 

 A farmer, we are told, was looking out of his window one summer's 

 morning about three o'clock, when he saw a fox crossing a field, 

 carrying a large duck which he had captured. On coming to a 

 stone dyke, about four feet high, on the side of the field, Reynard 

 made an effort to leap over it with his prey, but failed, and fell back 

 into the field. After making three attempts, with the same result, 

 he sat down, and viewed the dyke for a few minutes. Then, 

 apparently satisfying himself, he caught the duck by the head, 

 and, standing up against the dyke with his fore-paws as high as 

 he could reach, he placed the bill of the duck in a crevice in the 

 wall; then, springing upon the top, he reached down, and, pulling 

 up the duck, dropped it upon the other side, leaped down, and, 

 picking it up, went on his way. 



The Bears 



The Bear family is in appearance so unlike any other that 

 its members can be recognized at a glance. They are all heavy, 

 awkward animals, with a peculiar shuffling gait, thick and clumsy 

 body, short tail, and ragged fur. In walking they put the soles 

 of the feet flat upon the ground, and the track of a bear has, 

 therefore, some resemblance to that of a man. As they live 

 partly upon flesh and partly upon vegetable diet, their teeth are 

 specially adapted not only for tearing and cutting their food as 

 in the dog, but for grinding and chewing, as in the purely vege- 

 tarian animals, which we shall shortly discuss. 



The bear family is widely distributed over the face of the earth. 

 Its members are found in the frozen regions around the Poles, in 

 North and South America, the greater part of Europe and Asia, 



