A GENTLEMANLY BEAR. 
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for although it loses its growing yyroperties after its twentieth year, it seems permanently to 
retain the capability of enlargement, and when in a favorable situation will live to a very great 
age. The weight of an adult Brown Bear in good condition is very great, being some- 
times from seven to eight hundred pounds when the creature is remarkably fine, and from 
five to six hundred pounds in ordinary cases. Mr. Falk remarks that a Bear which he 
killed was so enormously heavy, that when slung on a pole it was a weighty burden for ten 
bearers. 
The Brown Bear is not so formidable a foe to cattle and flocks as might be supposed 
from the strength, courage, and voracity of the animal, as it has been often known to live for 
years in the near vicinity of farms without making any inroads upon the live stock. For- 
tunately for the farmers and cattle owners of Northern Europe, the Brown Bear is chiefly 
indebted for its food to roots and vegetable substances, or the sheds and folds would soon 
be depopulated. As a general fact, the Bear does not trouble itself to pursue the cattle, 
and in many cases owes its taste for blood to the absurd conduct of the cattle, which are 
apt to bellow and charge at the Bear as soon as it makes its appearance. The Bear is then 
provoked to retaliation, and in so doing, learns a taste for blood which never afterwards 
deserts it. 
When a Bear has once taken up the business of cattle-stealing, there is no peace in the 
neighborhood until the country is freed from the presence of the marauder. It is said that the 
Bear is more virulent in the destruction of cattle when the weather is wet and cloudy than 
when it is dry and clear. 
Ants form a favorite article of diet with the Bear, which scrapes their nests out of the earth 
with its powerful talons, and laps up the ants and their so-called “eggs” with its ready 
tongue. Bees and their sweet produce are greatly to the taste of the Bear, which is said to 
make occasional raids upon the bee-hives, and to plunder their contents. 
Vegetables of various kinds are favorite articles of diet with the Bear, and in the selection 
of these dainties the animal evinces considerable taste. According to Mr. Lloyd, “the Bear 
feeds on roots, and the leaves and small limbs of the aspen, mountain-ash, and other trees ; 
he is also fond of succulent plants, such as angelica, mountain-thistle, etc. To berries he 
is likewise very partial, and during the autumnal months, when they are ripe, he devours vast 
quantities of cranberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, cloudberries, and other berries 
common to the Scandinavian forests. Ripe corn he also eats, and sometimes commits no 
small havoc amongst it ; for seating himself, as it is said, on his haunches in a field of it, he 
collects with his outstretched arms nearly a sheaf at a time, the ears of which he then de- 
vours.” 
Even in captivity the Bear retains this fruit-loving propensity. One of these animals, 
which was being maltreated by a cruel owner, was benevolently purchased by one of my 
friends, a military officer, who had no sooner concluded the bargain than he repented of his 
kindness, for the Bear was. so demonstrative in its expressions of gratitude that he began to be 
rather uneasy, and having no possible locality wherein to lodge his new acquisition, he felt 
himself in some perplexity as to its lodging. However, he got the Bear into a post-chaise, and 
having taken the precaution to purchase a great many bottles of strawberries, he urged the 
post-boy to drive at his best speed, and set himself to propitiate his new acquaintance. The 
Bear took the strawberries in a very polished manner, and ate them deliberately, rejecting the 
green calices as fastidiously as if it had been accustomed to good society all its life. However, 
the fruit vanished so fast, that the unfortunate proprietor became alarmed for his own safety, 
and was not fairly relieved from his fears until he was deposited at the door of the barracks in 
which the headquarters of his regiment were at that time established. The Bear, on seeing so 
many blue-coated strangers, became alarmed in its turn, and fled for protection to the only 
person with whom it was acquainted. 
It so happened that the mess -dinner was just served, and that the proprietor of the Bear 
had but time to make a hasty toilet, and gain the mess-room. On this occasion the command- 
ing officer was delayed for a few minutes, and while the assembled guests were awaiting his 
arrival, the Bear walked into the room, having sniffed its way after its master. The unex- 
