NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY. ij 



beaft, birds and fifties, found among them : but tho' 

 fportfmen and anglers hiftories are liable to be doubted, and 

 ought not to be admitted as authentick, without very full and 

 further proof j yet I have, from many corroborating accounts, 

 gathered among thefe people feveral credible fa£ts, as will be feen 

 in the following pages. 



The Bea*r, which occafioned this fhort digreflion, is faid to carry Particularities 

 her young but a month ; and therefore, like the dog-kind, which of theBear - 

 alfb haftes for the birth, brings forth two or three in number, 

 blind and naked, and fmall as mice, each in form like a mere 

 lump; which the mother continually licks, till it expands or 

 unfolds itfelf, according to the proverb, Lambendo ficut urfa 

 catulos. Then they fay me holds them in her paws to her breaft, 

 to warm them, according to the manner of birds, which Ol. 

 Magnus has alfb obferved ; but fome are of opinion it is to give 

 them fuck, as their paps ftand pretty high on the fore-part of 

 their body. While thele young ones are bringing up it is raoft Dangerous 

 dangerous to meet the old ones, for then they will attack, whilft H^heiSan* 

 at other times they are only upon the defenfive againft, mankind, 

 excepting it be a pregnant woman, whofe condition they know by 

 fcent or by inftinS:, and with all their might will ftrive to get 

 the foetus, which is a delicious morfel to them, if it happens to 

 be a male. A certain clergyman that related this to me, would 

 not believe it himfelf, till he few an experiment with a young 

 and tame Bear, which he had faftened in his yard ; and till then 

 had not perceived that he had been guilty of any mifchief : 

 but one time leading a woman with child almoft up to him, he 

 began to make an uncommon noife ; he roared, and tore about 

 him fo 5 that they were obliged to fhoot him inftantly. A clergy- 

 man's wife alfo, in Sogne-Fiorden, related to me the danger that 

 her hufband found her in (Ihe being alfo big with child). He 

 returning home on a Summer's evening, faw a Bear trying and 

 taking all the pains he could to break open the door of her bed- 

 chamber, where fhe lay in the greateft anguifh, hearing him 

 roaring and jumping in vain up at the window, which fortunately 

 was too high from the ground for him. From this it is to be 

 obferved, that if any of thofe fhepherdeffes, or Giate-Tous, which 

 I have mentioned, who are a whole Summer in the country in 

 their feterhut, lofes her virtue, and becomes pregnant, fhe then 

 endangers her life, as well as the child's doubly. 



Otherwife thefe poor creatures are fo hardy and intrepid, 

 that they will often purfue a Bear, hollowing, with flicks in 

 their hands, and hunt him till he leaves his prey behind, and 



Part II. E which 



