$18 



tJNlTES> STATES- 



sometimes children. In Winter he migrates from 

 the north to the southward. 



The former appears to be the common black bear 

 of Europe, but larger, some weighing upwards of 

 400 pounds.* The latter corresponds to the brown 

 bear of the Alps. 



Mr* Hearne and other travellers in North Ame* 

 tica, remark, that no female bear had ever been 

 killed with young ; and hence the peculiar manner 

 in which she matured her fcetus, has long remained 

 a secret : and an absurd and old account has been 

 adopted and reported by some hunters, that the ani- 

 mal was dropped at an early period, and nourished 

 by the continual licking of the mother, until the limbs 

 and organs were evolved, and the surface covered 

 •with hair* But the question is now decided... .The 

 day before Christmas, 1799, a she bear was killed 

 in her den, in Salisbury, Connecticut, and dissected 

 by Mr. Bingham, of that place, who found in her three 

 young ones, which were in perfect shape, and of the 

 size of kittens of two months old. They were of dif- 

 ferent sexes, and as complete bears as they could 

 have been at their full growth. 



Whether the opinion of the premature exclusion 

 of the young bear is true, and will bear the scrutiny 

 of modern observation, our rural inquirers must de- 

 cide. The story, however, is an old one ; for we 

 find the opinion held by the ancients longer ago than 

 the beginning of the Christian sera. The poet Ovid, 



? Morses Dr. Williams says, one weighed 455 pounds. 



