species, 'Ethel' (also
presented by me to the Committee of the People's Park of Madras, and
by them sent to England), while coming over from Burmah killed and
devoured a large fowl put into her cage. I do not doubt the _killing_,
for at that time 'Ethel' had not long been caught, and was a little
demon in temper, but I suspect that, while attention was taken off,
some knowing lascar secured the body of the chicken, and gave her
credit for having swallowed it. 'Ada's' greatest delight was in
getting up small trees; even when she was a chubby infant I could,
by merely striking the bark, or a branch some feet above her head,
cause her to scramble up almost any tree. At this time poor 'Ada,'
a Burman otter, and a large white poodle were, like many human beings
of different tastes or pursuits, very fast friends." In another part
he mentions having heard of a bear of this species who delighted in
cherry brandy, "and on one occasion, having been indulged with an
entire bottle of this insinuating beverage, got so completely
intoxicated that it stole a bottle of blacking, and drank off the
contents under the impression that they were some more of its
favourite liquor. The owner of the bear told me that he saw it
suffering from this strange mixture, and evidently with, as may
easily be imagined, a terrible headache."

So much for the amusing side of the picture, now for the other.

Although strictly frugivorous, still it has been known to attack and
devour man in cases of the greatest want, and it also occasionally
devours small animals and birds, in the pursuit of which, according
to Dr. Sal Muller, it prefers those that live on a vegetable diet.
The Rev. Mr. Mason, in his writings about Burmah, says "they will
occasionally attack man when alone;" he instances a bear upsetting
two men on a raft, and he goes on to add that "last year a Karen of
my acquaintance in Tonghoo was attacked by one, overcome, and left
by the bear for dead." In this case there was no attempt to devour,
and it may have been, as I have often observed with the Indian Sloth
Bear, that such attacks are made by females with young.

Dr. Sal Muller states: "in his native forests this bear displays much
zeal and ingenuity in discovering the nests of bees, and in
extracting their contents by means of his teeth from the narrow
orifices of the branches of the trees in which they are concealed."

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