BRUIN AT BAY, 



MONG the Plantigrades, or quadrupeds that walk upon the sole of the foot, 

 the Bear is one of the most powerful of all those living at the present time. 

 When unmolested, he is an inoffensive animal, and busies himself chiefly 

 with prowling about the forest, seeking such berries and fruits as he particularly 

 likes. Although possessed of great strength and tenacity of life he shuns all con- 

 flict, and, when approached by man, prefers rather to fly, if escape be possible, than 

 to stand his ground and to defend himself During the summer he becomes very 

 fat, so that he is able to live through severe winters without food. As the first 

 snows warn him of the approach of the inclement season, he looks out for a suit- 

 able lair, either in the hollow of some large, decayed tree, or in a cave hidden 

 among the rocks. In one of these he takes up his abode, and prepares to sleep 

 away the cheerless months. If it is a tree, in which he has decided to hibernate, 

 he climbs up to the mouth of the cavity, and then backs down into it until the 

 bottom is reached, where he rolls himself up into a furry ball, and, if undisturbed, 

 does not emerge again until the warm breath of spring has, with gaily coloured 

 and sweet-scented blossoms, covered all the land. 



Every country of the northern portions of the globe, possesses a representa- 

 tive of the Family of these sharp-clawed animals. In the frozen Polar regions, 

 the great White Bear roams over the ice-fields and snow-clad plains of the dreary 

 and inhospitable land, monarch of its animal world, and disputes with the diminutive 



