he _Overland Monthly_, but they overlook the
fact that the name was given to bears found along the Missouri River by
Lewis and Clarke, years before California, with all its wealth, was
discovered.

In Russia, a fine specimen of the family is found in the Ural
Mountains. His peculiarity is a white collar about the neck, so his
Latin name, _Ursus collaris_, means the bear with a collar. All
through the Himalayas, this restless plantigrade has wandered, and even
far down upon the low-lying plains of India and China; but all the way
he shuffles and shambles and is the same droll fellow.

The bear's vegetable diet consists of berries, nuts and many kinds of
roots. He will not refuse sweet apples and pears when he can find
them. In the tropics he eats nearly all the fruits that the natives
eat and leads altogether a lazy, luxurious life. Since food is
plentiful in these warm climates, he does not have to cross the path of
man to get it, or be forced to steal, as the bear living in colder
climes often does; so he is a good-natured, easy-going fellow, who will
let you alone if you do not pick a quarrel with him. This is much more
true of bears in general, than is usually supposed.

In the tropics, the bear does not have to hibernate to keep the fat
that he has gained in the time of plenty upon his ribs. So his period
of sleeping is very short and in many cases he does not hibernate at
all; while, on the other hand, the bear of the cold northland sleeps
nearly half of the year.

Hibernation seems to be a wise provision of nature by means of which
the bear conserves his flesh and strength during extreme weather. When
the ground is covered several feet deep with snow, it will readily be
seen that berry-picking would be difficult, and nuts and roots would be
hard to find, as would the ants and grubs under logs and stones, with
which the bear varies his diet in fine weather. The chipmunks and mice
have also denned up, so there is not much for bruin to do but sleep.

There is one weakness that I believe the bear always indulges whenever
he can, no matter in what clime he be found, and that is a love for
sweets, especially honey. He will dare the sharp bayonets of the most
angry swarm of bees or climb the worst tree, if he feels at all certain
that there will be honey after his pains. In some countries, he
damages a great many telephone and telegraph poles and wires by
climbing the poles in search of that swarm of bees