n well-fed they always lick their paws, very often
accompanying the action with a peculiar sort of mumbling noise. There
are a few which will never eat flesh, and all are able to do without it.
They are, generally speaking, large, clumsy and awkward, possessing
large claws for digging; and often walk on their hind-feet, a facility
afforded them by the peculiar formation of their thigh-bone. They do not
often attack in the first instance, unless impelled by hunger or danger;
they are, however, formidable opponents when excited. In former times
there were few parts of the globe in which they were not to be found;
but like other wild animals, they have disappeared before the advance of
man. Still they are found in certain spots from the northern regions of
the world, to the burning climes of Africa, Asia, and America. The
latest date of their appearance in Great Britain, was in Scotland,
during the year 1057.

Bears are always covered with thick fur; which, notwithstanding its
coarseness, is much prized for various purposes. They afford much sport
to those inclined for such exercises; but the cruel practice of
bear-baiting is discontinued. In an old edition of Hudibras, there is a
curious note of a mode of running at the devoted bears with
wheelbarrows, on which they vented their fury, and the baiters thus had
them at their mercy. At present the hunts are regularly organised
fights, or battles, besides which there are many ways of catching them
in traps, pitfalls, etc.

The large polar bear (Ursus Maritimus), with its white fur, its long,
flattened head, and black claws, may be seen in great perfection at the
Zoological Gardens. In its own country, during the winter, it lives
chiefly on seal's flesh, but in the summer eats berries, sea-weed, and
marsh plants. It is one of the most formidable of the race; and may be
seen climbing mountains of ice, and swimming from floe to floe with the
greatest rapidity. Captain Lyon tells us, that when a seal lies just
ashore, the bear gets quietly into the water and swims away from him to
leeward; he then takes short dives, and manages so that the last dive
shall bring him back close to the seal, which tries to escape by rolling
into the water, when he falls into the bear's paws; and if he should lie
still, the bear springs upon and devours him; its favourite food,
however, is the floating carcases of whales. The gait of all bears is a
sort of shuffle; but this one goes at such a rate,