ii6 



The Living Animals of the World 



Fhoto by E. Lo.)idQr\ 



SYRIAN BE VJ 

 Tbis is tlie bear genoraljj allncleil to in ti:e OKI Testament. 



for rich Russians' sledge-rugs. 

 The finest bear-skins of all are 

 bought for the caps of our 

 own Grenadier and Coldstream 

 Guards. In the Alps the bears 

 occasionally visit a cow-shed 

 in winter and kill a cow ; but 

 as a rule the only damage 

 done by those in Europe is 

 to the sheep on the hills 

 in the far north of Norway. 

 Tame Isrown bears are amusing 

 creatures, but should never be 

 trusted. They are always 

 liable to turn savage, and the 

 bite is almost as severe as 

 that of a tiger. Men have 

 had their heads completely 

 crushed in by the bite of one 

 of these animals. In Russia 

 bears are shot in the following manner. Wlien the snow falls, the bears retire into the densest 

 thickets, and there make a half-hut, half-burrow in the most tangled part to hibernate in. 

 The bear is tracked, and then a ring made round the cover by beaters and peasants. The 

 shooters follow the track and rouse the bear, which often charges them, and is forthwith shot. 

 If it escapes, it is driven in by the beaters outside. High fees are paid to peasants who send 

 information that a bear is harboured in this way. Sportsmen in St. Petersburg will go 300 



or 400 miles to shoot one on receipt of a telegram. 



The lirown bear, like tlie reindeer and red deer, 

 is found very little modified all across N'orthern Asia, 

 and again in the forests of North America. There, 

 liowever, it undergoes a change. Just as the red deer 

 is found represented by a much larger creature, the 

 wapiti, so the brown bear is found exaggerated into 

 the great bear of Alaska. The species attains its 

 largest, i)Ossibly, in Kamchatka, on the Asiatic side 

 of Bering Sea ; but the Alaskan bear has the credit 

 witli sportsmen of being the largest. A skin of one of 

 the former, brought to the sale-rooms of Sir Charles 

 Lampson & Co., needed two men to carry it. Last 

 spring, in the sale-rooms of the same great firm, some 

 persons jiresent measured the skin of an Alaskan bear 

 which was 9 feet across the shoulders from paw to paw. 



TiiK Grizzly Beak. 

 This is a very distinct race of brown bear. It 

 has a flat profile, like the polar bear; in addition it 

 grows to a great size, is barely able to climb trees, 

 and has the largest claws of any — they have been 

 known to measure 5 inches along the curve. The 

 true grizzly, which used to be found as far north as 

 Gl° latitude and south as far as IMexico, is a rare 

 animal now. Its turn for cattle-killing made the 



Flwlohy IV.F.Dmido] [RcrjcnCs Park. 



LARGE RUSSIAN BROWN BEAR. 



The picture shows tu what a size anil strength tlic hrown 



hear attains. 



