BEAN-GOOSE. [GoosE.] BEAlt, the English name for a family of Plantigrade Mamnialia, forming a natural group, with six incisor teeth and two canine teeth in each jaw, twelve molars in the upper and fourteen in the lower jaw ; petitadactyle or five-toed feet, armed with strong claws ; and a short tail. The Bears exhibit but a comparatively small carnivorous de velopment; for notwithstanding their strength, their dentition, par ticularly in the form of the crowns of their molar teeth, indicates a propensity bordering on the frugivorous exclusively. Aristotle well knew this, and thus described the habits of the Bear ( Nat. Hist.,' viii. 5) But the bear is an omnivorous animal, and by the supple ness of its body climbs trees and eats the fruits and also legumes. It also devours honey, having first broken up the hives ; crabs too and ants it eats, and also preys upon flesh." Aristotle then describes how the animal attacks the stag, the boar, and even the bull.
The ranger in the Tour on the Prairies' notices the honey-seeking propensity in language which, though not quite classical, is truly nomadic :—" The bear is the knowingest varmint for finding out a bee-tree in the world. They '11 gnaw for a day together at the trunk, till they make a hole big enough to get in their paws, and then they'll haul out honey, bees, and all." And indeed it appears that although they are omnivorous, they for the most part rarely devour flesh unless pressed by necessity. Their claws too, though formidable weapons, are not retractile, and are more calculated for digging and climbing than for tearing prey. It is their general characteristic to lay them selves up in caves or hollows for the winter, which they pass in a dormant state, and without taking food. The female produces her young at this season.
European Bears.
Ursus Arctos (Linn.), the Brown Bear, 'Apsros of Aristotle, the Ours of the French, Orso of the Italians, Bar of the Germans, Bjorn of the Swedes. This appears to have been the only species certainly known to Linumus; and though zoologists are not without their suspicions as to some of the species since recorded, the number of those which can no longer be considered doubtful will prove how much this depart meut of Natural History has been enriched since his time. Tho Brown Bear is widely diffused. The mountainous districts of Europe, from very high latitudes (Arctic Circle) in the north, to the Alps and Pyrenees in the south ; Siberia, Kaintehatka, and even Japan, to the eastward, and a portion of the northern regions of America, form the range of its geographical distribution. Africa and the 3Ioluccas have
been added ; but it is far from improbable that these localities have been assigned to it by travellers who have taken some other species for it.
To the Kaintehatkans this Bear seems to give the necessaries and even the comforts of life. The skin, we are told, forms their beds and their coverlets, bonnets for their heads, gloves for their hands, and collars for their dogs; while an overall made of it, and drawn over the soles of their shoes, prevents them from slipping on the ice. The flesh and fat are their dainties. Of the intestines they make masks or covers for their faces, to protect them from the glare of the sun in the spring, and use them as a substitute for glass, by extending them over their windows. Even the shoulder-blades are said to be put in requisition for cutting grass.
The Laplanders hold it in great veneration, and, according to Leems, called it the Dog of God ; for it appears that among the Norwegians there had long been a proverb, that it had the strength of ten men and the sense of twelve. They never; says the same author, presume to call it by its proper name of Guouzhja, lest it should revenge the insult on their flocks; but make mention of it as Moedda-Aigja, or the Old Man with a Fur-Cloak (` sell= cum rnastrud, ').
The Brown Bear is a solitary animal. Its retreat during the period of hybernation is the natural hollow of a tree, or some cavern ; and if these are not to be found the animal constructs a habitation for itself, sometimes by digging, sometimes by forming a rude kind of hut or den with branches of trees, lined with moss. Here it retires when fat with the summer's food, and remains dormant, without taking any sustenance, till the ensuing spring. Cuvier makes the period of gestation about seven months, stating that they couple in June, and that the birth takes place in January ; and the same number of months is assigned in the article in the old French Encyclop6die,' taken from observations of the bears kept at Berne. The cubs when first born are not much larger than puppies. They are long-lived, for it appears that one of the Berne hears had been confined there 31 years; and another, born there, is spoken of at the age of 47 in the meuagerie at Paris. They are excellent swimmers, notwithstand ing their uncouth appearance. Mr. Lloyd, in his 'Field Sports of the North of Europe,' gives a very interesting account of the habits of this species, and of his adventures in hunting it.