396 
THE BEAR. 
little. This fact is well attested; and the 
form of the teeth and jaws is well adapted 
to such an operation. At other times, how¬ 
ever, they will run harmlessly in the path 
before the traveller, seeming to take delight 
in amusing him with their antics and feats 
of climbing and tumbling.” 
“It seems to me,” said Miss Taylor, “that 
I have heard this munching-propensity at¬ 
tributed to the common black bear; but I 
cannot recall any particulars.” 
“Dear me!” exclaimed Antoinette. “I 
shall not go near him, then. I should not 
like to have my hands crushed to pieces by 
a bear.” 
“ Oh, you need not be afraid of old 
Bruin,” said Sidney. “He is always kept 
chained up; and, besides, he is very gentle. 
He eats out of Lizzie Barton’s hands. But 
now come the regular bears.” 
“ The bears proper are by far the most 
numerous and the most widely diffused,” 
continued Miss Winston, “being found 
throughout the North of Europe, in Asia, 
and all over North America. The brown 
bear inhabits almost all the mountainous 
parts of Europe, and was formerly very 
