oad white
V-shaped mark on the chest and a white chin. Neck thick, head
flattened; ears large; claws very long and curved; fur short; body
and head more slender than the preceding species.

Jerdon remarks that the specific name of this bear is unfortunate,
since it is rare in Thibet. However the more appropriate specific
name _torquatus_ is now more generally adopted. It seems to be common
in all the Himalayan ranges, where it is to be found from 5000 to
12,000 feet. Jerdon says it lives chiefly on fruit and roots,
apricots, walnuts, apples, currants, &c., and also on various grains,
barley, Indian corn, buckwheat, &c., and in winter on acorns,
climbing the oak trees and breaking down the branches. They are not
afraid of venturing near villages, and destroy not only garden stuff,
but--being, like all bears, fond of honey--pull down the hives
attached to the cottages of the hill people. "Now and then they will
kill sheep, goats, &c., and are said occasionally to eat flesh. This
bear has bad eyesight, but great power of smell, and if approached
from windward is sure to take alarm. A wounded bear will sometimes
show fight, but in general it tries to escape. It is said sometimes
to coil itself into the form of a ball, and thus roll down steep hills
if frightened or wounded." If cornered it attacks savagely, as all
bears will, and the face generally suffers, according to Jerdon; but
I have noticed this with the common Indian Sloth Bear, several of
the men wounded in my district had their scalps torn. He says: "It
has been noticed that if caught in a noose or snare, if they cannot
break it by force they never have the intelligence to bite the rope
in two, but remain till they die or are killed." In captivity this
bear, if taken young, is very quiet, but is not so docile as the
Malayan species.[7]

[Footnote 7: Since writing the above, the following letter appeared
in _The Asian_ of May 11, 1880:--

"THE HIMALAYAN BLACK BEAR.

"SIR,--Mr. Sterndale, in the course of his interesting papers on the
Mammalia of British India, remarks of _Ursus Tibetanus_, commonly
known as the Himalayan Black Bear, that 'a wounded one will sometimes
show fight, but in general it tries to escape.' This description is
not, I think, quite correct. As it would lead one to suppose that
this bear is not more savage than any other wild animal--the nature
of most of the _ferae_ being to try to escape when wounded, _unless_
they see the hunter who has