164 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
range of mountains and in Assam. The Ursus labiatus is 
confined to the peninsula of India and Ceylon, although I did 
shoot one in Assam. How it got there was a puzzle to Jerdon, 
the naturalist, as he declared it was not to be found in that part 
of the country at all; but as I had the almost fresh skin with 
skull attached, seeing was believing. But I must own that out of 
a good many shot by myself and others in that and the adjacent 
countries it alone was labiatus, all the others were tibetanus.. Why 
this latter Bear should be so styled has been a puzzle, for it is 
not found in Thibet at all. 'The two Sun Bears are found in 
Burma and downwards in Malaya. The Sloth Bear is an un- 
gainly-looking beast. It has long shaggy hair, a prolonged and 
very flexible snout and lower lip. The fur is black, and the 
muzzle and the tips of the feet being of a dirty white or yellowish 
colour. Its breast is ornamented with a whitish V-shape; a ball 
placed therein being certain death to the beast. This Bear feeds 
on White Ants, fruit, and honey; but although such a great 
authority as Sir Samuel Baker asserts it is not carnivorous, yet 
I have come upon both the.lavdiatus and the tibetanus devouring 
the remains of dead animals which we had shot a day or two 
previously. 
There is just sufficient danger in Bear shooting to make it an 
exciting sport. Bear spearing off horseback is undoubtedly a 
grand sport, but the Urse are seldom met with on ridable 
ground; but the late Geoffrey Nightingale must have speared 
several hundreds of them. If a Bear is wounded when in com- 
pany with another, he invariably goes for his comrade under the 
idea, I suppose, that he has been the aggressor. They charge 
in a most determined manner; but when close by, they generally 
rise on their hind legs and claw at the sportsman’s face. I 
have seen some terrible wounds inflicted by them, principally 
on unoffending woodcutters. It is useful to carry a stout spear 
with a crossbar when following up a wounded Bear. My 
shikarie, Mogul Beg, was charged by an old he-Bear; he thrust 
the broad blade a little way into the chest, but, stumbling, 
failed to drive the weapon home. The Bear seized the cross- 
bar by the fore feet, and fairly drove the blade through his 
own body! 
They all have very long powerful claws, by means of which 
