430 MAMMALIA. 



hard pushed by hunger it will not unfrequently go eight or ten 

 leagues from its home, but at dawn never fails to return to its 

 own district. 



The Bear is well endowed with sight, hearing, and smell. 

 If Tschudi is to be credited, before setting out on hunting ex- 

 peditions, it invariably climbs to the top of some eminence or 

 tree to explore the neighbourhood, both by sight and smell. It is 

 very cautious in its nature, and but seldom enters traps ; it inspects 

 objects at a distance with which it is unacquainted, and will not 

 approach them without extreme caution. If it finds a carcass, 

 it will not feed upon it before due examination. 



The Bear does not become torpid during winter, as has 

 been generally believed ; but sleeps sometimes for several days, 

 for the reason that its appetite is smaller in cold weather. 

 "When abroad at this season and not finding a sufficiency of 

 vegetable sustenance, it is then that a taste for flesh takes pos- 

 session of it, and it lays tribute on the nearest flocks of Goats 

 and Sheep. It prefers Sheep, because the capture of them is 

 more easy, for the Goat's agility is a serious obstacle to its 

 successful pursuit. When the latter becomes its prey, the 

 Bear generally jumps down upon it from the top of some 

 eminence, or makes its way at night into its pen. It rarely 

 attacks larser cattle ; still, instances are known where it has 

 lain in wait for Cows near their drinking places, when it has 

 sprung on the back of one, and seizing it by the nape of 

 the neck, continued lacerating until death ensues. In foggy 

 weather Bears are said to be more venturesome, as they can 

 approach the grazing- grounds with greater impimity, and with 

 less fear of being seen by the shepherd, when, if opportunity 

 offers, they fall upon some beast which is detached from the others, 

 and devouring part of it, carry off the remainder. The Brown 

 Bear will not often attack Horses, possibly on account of their 

 agility in avoiding its assault, or greeting its approach with a 

 volley of kicks. 



The Brown Bear is, in the main, an easy-tempered animal, an& 

 cruel only from necessitj^ ; it is happy and comic in its ways, and 

 absolutely inoifensive to man when unprovoked. It must, how- 

 ever, be confessed that it becomes more and more carnivorous in 

 its nature as it ages, because the taste for flesh increases in pro- 



