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CHAPTER XI. 



BEARS (Continued). 



The brown beae (Ursus arctos) is an animal very widely dif- 

 fused, one or otter of its varieties being found in tlie north and 

 south of Eutope, Siberia, Kamtcbatka, and even in Japan. 



Its fur is generally brown-coloured, but is subject to Variations ; 

 some animals being quite black, and others having a yellowish 

 coat. 



It is a solitary animal, hibernating during the winter, and 

 living by preference on a vegetable diet. It exhibits but little 

 hostility to man, but when forced to fight, through being unable 

 to retreat, or when it has to defend its offspring, it will do so 

 with great courage, despite its timid disposition, and rising on its 

 hind-legs endeavour to grasp its antagonist in an embrace. 



The brown bears, as a rule, are comparatively harmless animals, 

 and instead of the savage look of the grizzly bears, they have 

 rather a mild and good-humoured aspect, which in a great measure 

 is due to their eyes being larger and more pleasing in ex- 

 pression. 



The fat of the brown bear constitutes the " bear's grease " of 

 the barber's shop, which is supposed to possess some attractive 

 qualities for those people who delight in anointing their heads 

 after the manner of the ancients, and against whose destructive 

 powers the chairs and couches had to be disfigured with those 

 abominations called " anti-maccasars." It is hardly possible that 

 this special fat can have any virtues not common to some other 

 fatty substances, but the use of it for this purpose dates very far back 



