Chapter IV: Part 4

There are, however, strong grounds for believing that the fine pair of animals, whose portraits are prefixed to the present article, exhibit real and substantial marks of distinction of sufficient value to sanction their separation from the other species. Considerably larger and more robust than the Common Wolf, and differing greatly in the expression of their physiognomy, neither in figure nor in countenance are they remarkable for that starved and gaunt appearance which is the common and well known attribute of the latter. In fact, they have altogether a more fierce and formidable, but at the same time a more noble and less sinister, aspect. Their hair, which is of considerable length, especially along the middle of the back and shoulders, where it forms a sort of indistinct and scattered mane, is mottled with various shades of black, gray, and white, giving to the whole animal that dark and clouded colour which constitutes one of its most peculiar and striking characteristics. The colouring, which, on the upper parts of the body, is deep black, becomes somewhat lighter on the sides, and assumes a yet lighter shade beneath: the chin and angles of the mouth are nearly white; the gray tinge predominating over the darker shades in various other parts, but by no means in so regular a manner as to merit a particular description. The ears are remarkably short; and the tail is also somewhat shorter in proportion than that of the common wolf, not reaching, in its solid form, beneath the posterior bend (which in all these animals is formed by the heel) of the hind legs.

The animals at present in the Tower, the only individuals of this species that have been brought alive to Europe, were presented about four years since by the Hudson’s Bay Company, by some of whose hunters they had been trapped in the northern regions of America. A fine skin of the same species was brought home by the late overland expedition to those countries, under the command of Captain Franklin, and presented to the Museum of the Zoological Society. There is also another instance of its occurrence recorded in the capture of a solitary specimen, in the Missouri territory, by the party engaged in Major Long’s expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains. This specimen was accurately described, in the notes to the published narrative of that expedition, by Mr. Say, who at once recognised it as a distinct species, and affixed to it the scientific name which we have adopted without hesitation for these animals, with the most striking peculiarities of which his description coincides in every essential particular.

Their habits in a state of nature are, in all probability, perfectly similar to those which characterize their immediate neighbours, from which, in captivity, they differ in no remarkable degree. Like the common kind, they are exceedingly voracious, tearing their meat and swallowing it in large gobbets, and afterwards gnawing the bones (for which they frequently quarrel) with truly wolvish avidity. Although they have been so long confined, they retain their original ferocity undiminished: a circumstance, it may be mentioned by the way, which has prevented us from giving their measurement. Judging, however, from the eye, we may confidently venture to assert that their size, especially that of the male, is considerably superior to that of the specimen described by Mr. Say, which measured about four feet and a quarter from the tip of the nose to the origin of the tail.

THE JACKAL.

_CANIS AUREUS._ LINN.

The Jackal, one of the greatest pests of the countries which he inhabits, is spread over nearly the whole of Asia and the north of Africa, occupying in the warmer regions of those continents the place of the Wolf, of whom in many particulars he may be considered as offering a miniature resemblance. In size he is about equal to the common fox, but he differs from that equally troublesome animal in the form of the pupils of his eyes, which correspond with those of the dog and of the wolf, in the comparative shortness of his legs and muzzle, in his less tufted and bushy tail, and in the peculiar marking of his coat. The colouring of his back and sides consists of a mixture of gray and black, which is abruptly and strikingly distinguished from the deep and uniform tawny of his shoulders, haunches, and legs: his head is nearly of the same mixed shade with the upper surface of his body, as is also the greater part of his tail, which latter, however, becomes black towards its extremity; his neck and throat are whitish, and the under surface of his body is distinguished by a paler hue.

Unlike the wolf or the fox, he always associates himself with his species in numerous troops, which burrow together in the earth, hunt in concert, and act in conjunction for their mutual defence. These bands not only prey upon the smaller quadrupeds and domestic poultry, but, emboldened by their numbers, give chase to and attack the larger animals. They frequently follow in the train of more noble beasts, and make their meal off the remains of the carcases which have been half devoured by the Lion or the Tiger. When taken they become almost immediately tame and docile; offering no resistance and evincing no signs of ferocity. The specimen in the Tower is remarkably quiet; it is a male, and has been a resident for upwards of three years.

THE CIVET, OR MUSK CAT.

_VIVERRA CIVETTA._ LINN.

The group of animals to which we have next to turn our attention is perhaps the most puzzling, and certainly the least understood, among the true Carnivora; hence there exists no little difficulty in defining its limits and distinguishing the species which compose it. Under the generic name of Viverra, Linnæus comprehended a series, or, to speak more properly, a congeries, of quadrupeds, differing from each other so remarkably in form, in structure, and in habits, as to render it absolutely impossible to find characters by which they might be circumscribed and isolated from their fellows. His definition of the genus therefore, although purposely expressed in terms the most vague and indistinct, neither excludes such animals as from their obvious affinities he could not refrain from referring to other groups, nor includes full one half of the species which he has arranged beneath it. The Ichneumon of the Nile, the Suricate of the Cape, the Coati of South America, the Stinking Weasels of the North, the Civet of Barbary, the Genette of the East, the Ratel of South Africa, and others equally distant in affinity, were sweepingly compelled into this ample receptacle, which was converted into a genuine “refuge for the houseless,” in which every carnivorous quadruped, known, unknown, or imperfectly known, that appeared to be without a place elsewhere, was charitably afforded a temporary asylum.

In this arrangement, which brought animals truly digitigrade, with retractile claws, tongues covered with sharp papillæ, canine teeth of great power, and molars formed for tearing flesh, consequently in a high degree sanguinary and carnivorous in their habits, into close and intimate contact with others, which are positively plantigrade, with exserted claws, smooth tongues, and teeth of little power and evidently incapable of lacerating animal food, and which are therefore in all cases more or less, and in several instances wholly, vegetable eaters, it was impossible for naturalists long to coincide. The genus thus formed presented so heterogeneous a combination, that the difficulty was rather where to stop in the dispersion of the dissimilar materials of which it was composed, than where to commence the necessary operation; and in consequence nearly a dozen genera, not hanging together in one continued series, but scattered through various parts of the system, and most of them essentially distinct, have been the result of the dismemberment of this single group.

The true Civets, to which the genus Viverra is now restricted, yield in the extent of their carnivorous propensities to the cats alone, whom they approach very closely in many points of their zoological character, as well as in their predatory, sanguinary, and nocturnal habits. In addition to the six incisors and two canines, which are common to the whole of the true Carnivora, they have on each side and in each jaw six molars, one of which is peculiarly adapted for lacerating flesh, while the rest are more or less of the ordinary form. Their tongues are furnished with the same elevated and pointed papillæ which give so remarkable an asperity to those of the cats; and their claws are half retractile. The toes are five in number on each of the feet, and their extremities alone are applied to the ground in walking; the animals are consequently completely digitigrade. But the most distinctive character of the group consists in an opening near the tail, leading into a double cavity of considerable size, furnished with glands and follicles for the secretion of the peculiar odoriferous substance so well known as the produce of the Civet, and from which the animal derives his name.

The present species is from two to three feet in length, exclusive of the tail, which is nearly half as much more; and stands from ten to twelve inches high. His body, which is more elongated in its form than that of any of the animals hitherto described, is covered with long hair, the ground colour of which is of a brownish gray intermingled with numerous transverse interrupted bands or irregular spots of black. A series of longer hairs of the latter colour occupy the middle line of the back, from between the shoulders to the extremity of the tail, and form a kind of mane, which may be raised or depressed at pleasure. The legs and greater part of the tail are perfectly black, and the upper lip and sides of the neck nearly white. A large patch of black surrounds each eye, and passes from it to the angle of the mouth; and two or three other bands of the same colour pass obliquely from the base of the ears towards the shoulder and neck, the latter of which is marked by a broad black patch.

In his natural habits the Civet closely resembles the fox and the less powerful species of cats, subsisting by rapine, and attacking the birds and smaller quadrupeds, which form his principal food, rather by night and by surprise than by open force and in the face of day: reduced to a state of captivity, he becomes moderately tame, but not sufficiently so to allow himself to be handled with impunity. In many parts of Northern Africa large numbers of them are kept for the purpose of obtaining their perfume, which bears a high price and is much esteemed. The individual sketched above is a male of large size, and remarkable for never having deposited any of the perfume, although for more than twelve months an inhabitant of the Menagerie.

THE JAVANESE CIVET.

_VIVERRA RASSE._ HORSF.

The present species is remarkably distinct from the preceding both in form and colour. Its ground is of a much lighter gray, on which it offers a broad longitudinal dorsal line of black, and two or three narrower ones of the same colour on each side, composed of confluent spots. These spots are also thickly but somewhat irregularly scattered over the rest of the body, and may be considered as forming a series of flexuous dotted lines. The legs are black externally; and the head is grayish and without spots. A deep longitudinal black line occupies the side of the neck above, and a second more oblique is placed below. The body, which is from fifteen to eighteen inches in length, is narrow and compressed, and more elevated behind than before; the back is strongly arched. The line of the profile is perfectly straight, the muzzle narrow and tapering, and the ears short and rounded. The tail is of equal length with the body, and tapers gradually to the tip; it is marked with eight or nine broad rings of black, alternating with an equal number of grayish.

Like the other animals of its group, its habits are predatory; in confinement it retains much of its original ferocity, and is extremely spiteful and savage. The two individuals from which our figure was taken have inhabited the Menagerie for nearly twelve months; they are both males, and occupy different dens. They are fed, like the preceding, and indeed like all the carnivorous quadrupeds which it remains to mention, on a mixture of vegetable and animal food; and deposit large quantities of civet, which strongly impregnates the air of the apartment in which they are kept. This perfume is highly esteemed by the Javanese, who apply it not only to their dresses, but also to their persons. Even the apartments and furniture of the natives of rank are generally scented with it to such a degree as to be offensive to Europeans.

THE GRAY ICHNEUMON.

_ICHNEUMON GRISEUS._ GEOFF.

From the Civets, to which it closely approaches in the number and in some degree also in the form of its teeth, in the asperity of its tongue, and in the semi-retractility of its claws, the group of which the Egyptian Ichneumon forms the type is distinguished by its narrower and more pointed muzzle, by the shortness of its lower lip, and more especially by the absence of the double cavity beneath the tail, which is replaced by a single pouch of considerable size, but destitute of secreting glands. Their hair is long, crisp, brittle, and always more or less variegated in colour, in consequence of each separate hair being marked by alternate rings of different shades.

The colour of the species now before us, which is a native of India, is a pale gray, the hairs being for the most part of a dirty yellowish white, relieved towards their extremities by narrow rings of brown. The head and limbs are darker than the rest of the body.

The habits of the Ichneumons are very similar to those of the ferret. In the localities where they abound, their sanguinary disposition and predatory inclinations render them a real pest to the farm-yard, to which they pay their nocturnal visits for the purpose of destroying the poultry. They also make war upon rats, birds, and reptiles, and devour the eggs of the latter with the greatest avidity. Endowed with a remarkable degree of courage in proportion to their size, they do not hesitate to attack any animal that is not obviously more than a match for them. Even in captivity they retain much of their native spirit; and so great is their activity and determination that the individual now in the Tower actually on one occasion killed no fewer than a dozen full grown rats, which were loosed to it in a room sixteen feet square, in less than a minute and a half. They are very easily tamed, become attached to those with whom they are familiar and to the house in which they live, and will follow their master about almost like a dog.

THE PARADOXURUS.

_PARADOXURUS TYPUS._ F. CUV.

Although the division of the true Carnivora into digitigrade and plantigrade is in many respects objectionable, we feel compelled, in conformity with established rules, to remove the animal before us from its most obvious affinities, to arrange it among the latter; placing it, however, at the commencement of that division and nearly in contact with the viverrine groups, to which it is so intimately allied, as to have been actually confounded by Buffon with the common Genette; a mistake, which was first clearly pointed out by M. F. Cuvier, but which has obtained so generally among naturalists, that the Paradoxurus is still commonly exhibited under that erroneous name. From the Genettes and Civets it differs little in its general form and habits; its teeth are nearly similar; and its toes and nails closely correspond in number and in their degree of retractility. But it is entirely destitute of the secretory pouch; and, in addition to its plantigrade walk, it exhibits a very peculiar structure in the tail. This organ is as long as the body, and flattened above and below; when extended, the further half is turned over so as to place its lower side uppermost, and the animal has it in its power to roll it up into a spire, commencing from above downwards, to the very base.

The colour of the species varies in different lights: in general it may be described as grayish black, with a tinge of yellow. On this ground it is marked with one broad dorsal, and on each side two or three narrower, indistinct black lines. The under jaw, the legs, and the greater part of the tail are entirely black; and there is a whitish spot above and under each of its eyes.

India and the larger Asiatic Islands appear to be its native country; but nothing certain is known of its habits in a state of nature: in captivity it is sullen and irascible, and evinces no affection for its keeper, appearing in fact totally insensible to the attentions which it receives.

THE BROWN COATI.

_NASUA NARICA._ F. CUV.

The characters of the genus to which this curious little animal belongs resemble so closely in the most important particulars those of the other plantigrade Carnivora, that it will here be sufficient to explain those points alone in which the Coatis differ from their immediate affinities. From the Bears they are essentially distinguished by the general form of their body, which in some measure approaches that of the viverrine group; by their physiognomy, which is altogether peculiar, and by their elongated tail, which is nearly equal in length to their body. From the Racoons their generally lengthened form, and especially that of the snout, which is in fact their most obvious and striking characteristic, are fully sufficient to distinguish them. In the Coatis this organ is produced in a most remarkable degree; and it is terminated by a muzzle so extremely flexible that, when the attention of the animal is excited, it is kept in constant action and moved about in all directions.

The Coatis are barely equal in size to the common fox: they inhabit the woods of South America, and live upon fruits, insects, and reptiles, climbing trees in pursuit of their prey with great agility. In captivity they are easily tamed, and are fond of being caressed; but exhibit no peculiar symptoms of attachment.

Three supposed species have been described; but naturalists in general are at present inclined to admit of no more than two; and even with regard to these we have yet no sufficient proof that they are really more than strongly marked varieties. The one from which our figure was taken belongs to the brown kind, which is distinguished from the other chiefly by its darker colour both above and below, and by the blackness of the sides of its snout. The tails of both species are usually encircled by rings alternately black and fulvous; and each has the eye surrounded by three white spots.

THE RACOON.

_PROCYON LOTOR._ CUV.

Larger in size and more robust in stature than the Coatis, and approximating still more closely in their physical characters to the Bears, which may be considered as the typical group of the plantigrade Carnivora, the Racoons naturally occupy an intermediate station between the playful, timid, and harmless little creatures just noticed, and the powerful, clumsy, and dangerous animals next to be described. Like both Bears and Coatis they have in each jaw six sharp incisors, two strong canines, and twelve cheek teeth, six on each side. But these latter differ from those of the Bears, inasmuch as the whole six form a regular series, the three anterior ones of which are small and pointed, and the three posterior broad and surmounted by prominent and blunted tubercles; while in the Bears the three anterior appear rather to form a supplemental appendage, being placed irregularly and at unequal distances, and not unfrequently falling out altogether as the animal advances in age: the tubercles on the crowns of the posterior ones are also much less strongly marked. The Coatis exhibit nearly the same mode of dentition as the Racoons; but striking marks of distinction between them are afforded by the comparative length of the tail, which in the latter is scarcely half as long as the body; and by that of the snout, which, instead of being prolonged into an extensible muzzle, capable of being moved about in all directions, as in the Coatis, is scarcely produced beyond the lower lip, and has very little motion. The strongly marked difference in physiognomy arising from this circumstance is increased by the width of the head posteriorly, which is so great as to give to the general outline of the face of the Racoons the form of a nearly equilateral triangle. Their ears are of moderate length, upright and rounded at the tip; their legs strikingly contrast in their slender and graceful form with the strong and muscular limbs of the Bears; and their nails, five in number on each of the feet, are long, pointed, and of considerable strength. The whole body is clothed with long, thick, and soft hair; and its general shape, notwithstanding its intimate connexion with the Bears, and its short and thickset proportions, is not without a certain degree of elegance and lightness.

The Racoons are natives of America, and the species which has been most frequently observed by naturalists, and which we are now to describe, is most frequent in the northern division of that continent. Indeed it may admit of doubt whether it ever advances further south than the Isthmus of Darien, the animal described by M. D’Azara as identical with it being evidently a distinct species. Its fur is usually of a deep grayish black, resulting from the intermixture of those two colours in successive rings on each individual hair. The shades of colour vary on different parts of the body, and are as usual much lighter below and on the inside of the legs. The face, which is nearly white, is surrounded by a black band of unequal breadth, passing across the forehead, encircling the eyes, and descending obliquely on each side towards the angle of the jaw. The whiskers are of moderate length; and the hair of the face generally, as well as of the legs, is short and smooth. The tail, which is thick at the base, tapering gradually to the tip, and covered with long hairs, has five or six brownish rings, alternating with an equal number of the lighter colour which is prevalent on the lower parts of the body.

All that we know of their habits in a state of nature may be comprehended in the single fact, that, in addition to the vegetable substances, and more particularly fruits, which form the principal part of their subsistence, they feed on the eggs of birds, and even on the birds themselves, their agility and the structure of their claws affording them the means of reaching the tops of the tallest trees with quickness and facility. In captivity they are easily tamed, and even appear susceptible of some degree of attachment; but they never entirely lose their sentiment of independence, and are consequently incapable of complete domestication. When placed under a certain degree of restraint they appear contented and happy, are fond of play, and take pleasure in the caresses of their friends, and even of strangers; but however long this kind of domestication may have continued, and how much soever they may seem reconciled to their confinement, the moment the restraint is withdrawn and they feel themselves again at liberty, the love of freedom prevails over every other consideration, and they become as wild as if they had never been reclaimed. In eating, they commonly support themselves on their hind legs, and carry their food to the mouth between their fore paws, having first plunged it in water, if the liquid element, of which they are remarkably fond, is within reach. This singular peculiarity, the object of which is not very obvious, but from which the animal derives his specific name, does not, however, appear to be constant and uniform, being frequently entirely neglected. The same may be said of their fondness for shell-fish and mollusca, for which they are generally stated to have a great partiality; some of them, like the handsome pair now living in the Menagerie, displaying the greatest address and dexterity in opening the shell of an oyster, and extracting its contents, while others absolutely refuse to touch it.

THE AMERICAN BLACK BEAR.

_URSUS AMERICANUS._ PALLAS.

We have now arrived at the closing group of the true Carnivora; a group which, although less sanguinary in its habits than almost any of those which we have hitherto had occasion to notice, and endowed by nature with a capacity of subsisting entirely on vegetable substances, comprehends nevertheless, among the closely allied species of which it is composed, not merely the largest, but even some of the most formidable, of the carnivorous Mammalia.

Both in outward shape and internal characters, these clumsy, sluggish, and uncouth animals offer a perfect contrast to the light, active, and elegant forms of the tribe with which we commenced our series. Instead of the compressed and lengthened body, with its soft, sleek, and variegated covering, and the long and graceful tail by which it is terminated, we have a broad, awkward, and thickset figure, covered with a rough, shaggy, and unattractive fur, and ending in a scarcely visible appendage, serving neither for ornament nor use. The difference in gait and motion is as remarkable as that of shape; for while the one glides gently along, as it were on tiptoe, or bounds onwards with the velocity of thought, the other appears to be oppressed by the weight of his ponderous and unwieldy bulk, and supporting himself on the full expansion of his dilated paws, scarcely moves without the semblance of an effort. The short and rounded jaws of the cats, with their close and regular series of powerful cutting and lacerating teeth, and their rough and rasplike tongue, are supplied by a broad and lengthened snout, teeth of a character totally different in almost every essential point, and a soft, smooth, and extensible tongue. The claws too, which in the cats are strongly curved, exceedingly sharp at their edges, tapering gradually to a fine point, and capable of being entirely retracted within their sheaths, are here indeed of great power, and sometimes even considerably arched, but rounded in their surfaces, more or less blunted at their extremities, and constantly protruded to their full extent. In this manner might the contrast be pursued through almost every organ; but our limits warn us that we must at once proceed to the enumeration of the essential characters which combine the Bears into a well marked group.

These characters are derived, first, from their completely plantigrade walk, the whole sole being at all times closely applied to the surface on which they tread; secondly, from their claws, of which they have five on each foot; thirdly, from the extreme shortness of their tail; and lastly, from the form and arrangement of their teeth. These consist of the usual number of incisors and canines, the latter being in general very robust, and of a series of molars, which, when complete, amount to six on each side in each jaw; the posterior three having flat and expanded surfaces surmounted by broad and blunted tubercles, and lying closely in contact with each other. Between them and the canines exists a considerable space, which is or should be occupied by three smaller and obtusely pointed teeth; but this number is seldom found entire, one or more of them being generally absent, and the series being thus rendered incomplete.

The Black Bear of America is distinguished from his fellows, and more especially from the brown bear of Europe, which he approaches most nearly in size and form, by few very striking external differences, except the colour of his fur. His forehead has a slight elevation; his muzzle is elongated, and somewhat flattened above; and his hair, though long and straight, has less shagginess than that of most of the other species of the group. In colour it is of a uniform shining jet-black, except on the muzzle, where it is short and fawn-coloured, becoming almost gray on the lips and sides of the mouth. This, however, it should be observed, is the character only of the full-grown animal: the young are first of a bright ash colour, which gradually changes to a deep brown, and finally fixes in the glossy black tint of mature age.

The habits and manners of the Black Bear resemble those of the brown almost as closely as his physical characters. In a state of nature he seeks the recesses of the forest, and passes his solitary life in wild and uncultivated deserts, far from the society of man, and avoiding even that of the animal creation. His usual food consists of the young shoots of vegetables, of their roots, which he digs up with his strong and arcuated claws, and of their fruits, which he obtains by means of the facility with which the same organs enable him to climb the loftiest trees. He possesses indeed the faculty of climbing in a most extraordinary degree, and frequently exercises it in the pursuit of honey, of which he is passionately fond. When all these resources fail him, he will attack the smaller quadrupeds, and sometimes even animals of considerable size; familiarity with danger diminishing his natural timidity, and the use of flesh begetting a taste for its continued enjoyment. He is also said, like the Polar Bear, to have a peculiar fondness for fish, and is frequently met with on the borders of lakes and on the coast of the sea, to which he has resorted for the gratification of this appetite. Notwithstanding his apparent clumsiness, he swims with the greatest dexterity, the excessive quantity of fat with which he is loaded serving to buoy him up in the water; in this way he frequently crosses the broadest rivers, or even very considerable arms of the sea.

The entire continent of North America, or perhaps it might be more correct to say, that immense portion of its surface which still remains uncultivated and desolate, furnishes an abode to this species of bear, which is consequently as widely dispersed as any of his tribe. As his fur is of some value in commerce, although not so much sought after at the present day as it was formerly, his race has become an object of the cupidity of man, by whom they are frequently hunted for the sake of their skins. This chase is principally followed by the Indians, who are also attracted by the flavour of his flesh, of which, and especially of the fat, they partake with an avidity truly disgusting. Travellers, however, who have been reduced to the necessity of having recourse to this sort of food, speak of it as by no means despicable: the fat yields moreover a quantity of oil, which is often extremely serviceable. The Indians will sometimes attack these animals single-handed; and if they can manage to keep beyond the reach of their powerful grasp, which is almost irresistible, are sure of gaining the victory; as the bears, in the rampant posture which they always assume in self-defence, unconsciously expose their most vulnerable parts to the attack of the hunter. Snares are sometimes laid for them; but these are most frequently unsuccessful; that extreme caution, which is so strongly portrayed in their actions and demeanour, rendering them mistrustful of every thing. Nevertheless their gluttony will sometimes get the better of their prudence, and the bait of honey offers too tempting an allurement to be always resisted. At other times a whole tribe of Indians will assemble for the chase, and after having performed a variety of superstitious observances, beat the entire country for their game, drive a great number of them into a spot selected for the purpose, and deal forth upon them wholesale destruction. They will also trace them to their retreats in the season of their lethargy, which occupies several of the winter months, and during which the bears are incapable of offering any effectual resistance.

In captivity the Black Bear is distinguished from the brown only by the less degree of docility and intelligence which he evinces: and the habits of the latter are so universally known that it would be useless to dwell upon them here. The specimen figured at the head of this article was presented to the Menagerie, in 1824, by Sir George Alderson, and is remarkably tame and playful. He has, until very lately, shared his den with the Hyæna, with whom he maintained a very good correspondence, except at meal-times, when they would frequently quarrel, in a very ludicrous manner, for a piece of beef, or whatever else might happen to furnish a bone of contention between them. The Hyæna, though by far the smallest of the two, was generally master; and the Bear would moan most piteously, and in a tone somewhat resembling the bleating of a sheep, while his companion quietly consumed the remainder of his dinner.

THE GRIZZLY BEAR.

_URSUS FEROX._ LEWIS AND CLARKE.

A native also of the northern division of America, and more particularly of that extensive tract of country which constitutes the newly erected State of Missouri, the Grizzly Bear differs in many striking points, both of character and habits, from the subject of the preceding article, as well as from every other animal of the very natural group of which he forms part. By his elongated, narrowed, and flattened muzzle, added to the slight elevation of his forehead, he is closely connected with the Black Bear of America, and as remarkably distinguished from the common Brown Bear of Europe, and from the White Bear of the polar regions, which last, in size and general form, offers perhaps the nearest approximation to the present species. But his enormous magnitude, which may be stated as averaging twice the bulk of the Black Bear; the greatly increased size and power of his canine teeth; and, above all, the excessive length of his talons, on the fore feet especially, afford characteristic differences so obvious and so essential, that it is difficult to conceive how they could have been so long overlooked by naturalists as well as travellers, who have all, until within little more than twenty years of the present time, passed him over without even a casual hint that he presented any claims to be considered as distinct from the common species of his country.

His hair, generally speaking, is longer, finer, and more abundant than that of the Black Bear, and varies in colour to an almost indefinite extent, passing through all the intermediate shades between a light gray and a black brown. The brown tinge is, however, the most common; and it is always more or less grizzled either by the intermixture of grayish hairs, or by the brown hairs being tipped with gray. The hair of the legs and feet is darker and coarser, and diminishes in length as it descends; on the muzzle it becomes remarkably pale, and is so much shortened as to give to the animal an appearance of baldness. His eyes are very small and hardly at all prominent; and the line of the profile is consequently nearly straight. His tail is scarcely visible, being almost entirely concealed by the long hairs which surround it. Of the great size of his feet and talons, some judgment may be formed from the measurements given by Captains Lewis and Clarke, the first travellers by whom the Grizzly Bear was accurately described. These gentlemen inform us that the breadth of the fore foot in one of the individuals observed by them exceeded nine inches, while the length of his hind foot, exclusive of the talons, was eleven inches and three quarters, and its breadth seven inches. The claws of the fore feet of another specimen measured more than six inches. The latter are considerably longer and less curved than those of the hind feet, and do not narrow in a lateral direction as they approach their extremity, but diminish only from beneath: the point is consequently formed by the shelving of the inferior surface alone, their breadth remaining the same throughout the whole of their enormous length, and their power being proportionally increased; an admirable provision for enabling the animal to exercise to the fullest extent his propensity for digging up the ground, either in search of food or for other purposes. It appears, however, on the other hand, to unfit him for climbing trees, which he never attempts; and this remarkable circumstance in his habits affords a striking distinction between him and all the other Bears, which are essentially climbers.

Of all the quadrupeds which inhabit the northern regions of the American continent, the Grizzly Bear is unquestionably the most formidable and the most dreaded. Superior to the rest of his tribe, not excepting even the polar species, in bulk, in power, in agility, and in the ferocity of his disposition, it is not to be wondered at that he should be regarded by the native Indians with an almost superstitious terror, and that some portion of this feeling should have been communicated even to the civilized travellers, who have occasionally met with him in the wild and desolate regions which are subject to his devastations. In the Journals of some of these travellers we find recorded such astonishing instances of his strength, ferocity, and extraordinary tenacity of life as would indeed amaze us, were we not aware how much the human mind is prone, under certain circumstances, to fall into exaggeration, in many cases most certainly unintentional. Making, however, all due allowances for the existence of this very natural feeling, we are bound to acknowledge that there are few animals who can compete with this terrible beast; and that to be made the object of his pursuit is an occurrence well calculated to alarm the stoutest heart, even when provided with the most certain and deadly weapons of human invention, guided by the most experienced eye, and directed by the steadiest hand.

This tremendous animal appears to be most commonly found in the neighbourhood of the Rocky Mountains, especially on the well wooded plains which skirt the eastern declivity of that lofty and extensive range, among thick copses of brush and underwood, and on the banks of the water-courses which descend in innumerable petty streams from their sources in the hills. In these wild solitudes, rarely trodden by the foot of civilized man, and visited only by the savage Indians of the neighbouring tribes, who have not yet learned to bow the neck beneath the yoke of the exterminating conqueror, he reigns the almost undisputed tyrant of the forest. Few among the animals which share with him his barbarous habitation are fleet enough to escape him in the chase; and none, when fairly placed within his reach, are powerful enough to withstand his overwhelming force. Even the sturdy and formidable Bison, the wild bull of North America, is incapable of offering any effectual resistance to the furious impetuosity of his attack; and an illustration of the extent of his muscular power is afforded by the fact that after having destroyed his victim, he will drag its ponderous carcase to some convenient spot, where he will dig a pit for its reception, and deposit it for a season, returning to his feast from time to time as the calls of hunger may dictate, until his store is exhausted and he is again reduced to the necessity of looking abroad for a fresh supply.

But although endowed with so strong a propensity for animal food, as well as with the power to gratify the appetite thus grafted in his very nature, he is not, like the more perfect of the carnivorous tribe, left entirely dependent upon that which, in the climate in which he has been placed, must of necessity be a precarious, and frequently even an impossible, source of subsistence. Of a more fierce and sanguinary temper than the other bears, he does not hesitate to attack whatever living creature may fall in his way, and man himself seems to inspire him with little dread: but in the absence of his favourite food, he makes a less savoury, but equally congenial, meal of vegetable substances, of fruits, or more commonly of roots, the latter of which he digs up with the greatest facility with his enormous claws; and in some parts of the country these more simple productions form almost his sole subsistence. On the quality of his food depends much of the ferocity of his temper; for it appears that the bears of the western side of the Rocky Mountains, who live almost entirely upon vegetables, are of a much less fierce and savage disposition than their fellows of the eastern side, where animal food is more abundant and more easily procured.

Next to his great size and excessive ferocity, one of the most striking peculiarities of this animal is his extreme tenacity of life. For the instances of this we are indebted almost wholly to the narrative of the Travels of Captains Lewis and Clarke, whose statements are no doubt founded in truth, although it may be suspected that they require to be received with some grains at least of allowance. According to these gentlemen one bear which had received five shots in his lungs, and five other wounds in various parts of his body, swam a considerable distance to a sand bank in the river, and survived more than twenty minutes; another that had been shot through the centre of the lungs, pursued at full speed the man by whom the wound was inflicted for half a mile, then returned more than twice that distance, dug himself a bed two feet deep and five feet long, and was perfectly alive two hours after he received the wound; and a third, although actually shot through the heart, ran at his usual pace nearly a quarter of a mile before he fell. There is no chance, they add, of killing him by a single shot, unless the ball goes directly through the brain; a single hunter runs consequently no little risk in venturing to attack an animal upon whom the most dangerous wounds, if not instantaneously fatal, produce no obvious immediate effects.

Notwithstanding the horror with which the natives regard this animal, it is said that they sometimes succeed in rendering him tame; and a whimsical story is told by the late Governor Clinton, on the authority of an Indian trader, of an insult offered to a domesticated bear of this species by an Indian of a different tribe from that to which the master of the bear belonged, being regarded as a national affront, and producing a war between the two tribes. The same veracious trader, it should be added, did not scruple to affirm that the Grizzly Bear had actually been seen fourteen feet long: the greatest measurement given on any credible authority being somewhat less than nine feet. It may, however, well be doubted whether the Grizzly Bear is capable of being domesticated; for it would appear that all the known attempts that have hitherto been made to render him docile and obedient have completely failed. In the narrative of Major Long’s expedition, Mr. Say has given some particulars relative to the manners of a half-grown individual which was kept chained in the yard of one of the stations of the Missouri Fur Company; but which, though far from having attained his full strength, was by no means trusted even by those who were most familiar with him. They occasionally ventured to play with him; but this was always done with caution and reserve; and when, as was sometimes the case, he chanced to break loose from his confinement, the whole establishment was thrown into a state of confusion and alarm. The same gentleman also gives the history of two individuals which were presented when very young to the Philadelphia Museum, where they were kept for several years confined in a strong cage; until at length their strength and ferocity, which no kind of treatment appeared capable of subduing, had reached such a pitch that it was found absolutely necessary to destroy them.

In no respect has the subject of the present notice, whose portrait admirably illustrates the peculiarities of his species, degenerated from the race of which he appears to be the sole representative in Europe. He was presented to his late majesty, more than seventeen years ago, by the Hudson’s Bay Company, and has long been the oldest inhabitant of the Tower Menagerie. The name of Martin, which was originally bestowed upon him, in imitation probably of that of the most celebrated bear ever exhibited in Europe, has consequently been of late years generally preceded by the epithet of antiquity, and Old Martin has become under that title almost as well known as his famous namesake. His size is far superior to that of any other bear that has ever been seen in this quarter of the globe; and his ferocity, in spite of the length of time during which he has been a prisoner, and of all the attempts that have been made to conciliate him, still continues undiminished. He does not offer the slightest encouragement to familiarity on the part of his keepers, but treats them with as much distance as the most perfect strangers; and although he will sometimes appear playful and good tempered, yet they know him too well to trust themselves within his clutch.

THE THIBET BEAR.

_URSUS THIBETANUS._ F. CUV.

It is with no slight feelings of regret that we find ourselves unable to furnish a complete and satisfactory account of the animal from whom the portrait above given was taken. Very soon after the drawing was completed, and before we had availed ourselves of the opportunity of making the necessary examination, we were unfortunately precluded from so doing by his sudden transfer to another country. His likeness alone, and a faithful and spirited likeness we will venture to pronounce it, remains with us. From this, and from the very imperfect notes which we possess, we have little hesitation in referring it provisionally to the species first established by M. Duvaucel, and since published by M. F. Cuvier in his splendid Histoire Naturelle des Mammifères. The circumstance, however, of our animal, the only individual of his species ever seen in Europe, having been brought from the Island of Sumatra instead of the continent of India, in which alone the Ursus Thibetanus had hitherto been discovered, is so remarkable, that we should have felt bound, had the means still remained open to us, to institute a close and severe comparison between the living specimen and the figure and description furnished by M. Duvaucel and M. Cuvier. As it is, we can only repeat the characters of the Thibet Bear as given by them, and refer to our figure for all the proof which we have it in our power to offer of its identity with the present animal. We trust that M. Temminck, or some other competent naturalist of the country to which the latter has been conveyed, will amply supply a deficiency which certainly would not have existed had we received timely notice of the intended transfer.

M. Duvaucel enumerates three species of bears inhabiting India and the neighbouring islands. The first of these is the Ursus labiatus, which was strangely mistaken on its first arrival in Europe, nearly forty years ago, for a Sloth, and received from the naturalists of that day the name of Bradypus pentadactylus, or ursinus, the Five-fingered, or Ursine, Sloth; an appellation which has been productive of no little confusion in nomenclature, and is still frequently employed in menageries and exhibitions to distinguish the same animal, and sometimes even nearly related species. With the true Sloths it has nothing in common; and the only circumstance which can at all account for the blunder, consists in the accidental deficiency of the incisor teeth in the animal first examined; a deficiency, which, according to the strict principles of the artificial system then adopted, was alone sufficient to convert a Bear into a Sloth. The second is the Ursus Malayanus, the Malay Bear, admirably illustrated, both with regard to character and habits, by the late lamented Sir Stamford Raffles in the thirteenth volume of the Linnean Transactions. Another species, intimately connected with this, and unknown to M. Duvaucel, will form the subject of the following article. In the present we must confine ourselves to his third form, the Thibet Bear, which, according to his observations, made on the living animal, is distinguished by the following characteristics.

In size it is intermediate between the two other species which he describes. Its most remarkable distinction is derived from the thickness of its neck and the flatness of its head, its forehead forming almost a straight line with its muzzle. The latter is moderately thick and somewhat lengthened; and the ears are very large. The body is compact, and the limbs heavy; a conformation from which we might be led to infer great muscular strength, together with a capacity for climbing trees and performing other feats of a similar description, were it not for the comparative weakness of the claws, which are scarcely more than half as long as those of the other Indian bears. Like the latter, its colour is invariably of a uniform glossy jet-black, except on the lower lip, which is white; as is also a patch occupying the front of the neck, and in shape like a Y, the two upper limbs of which pass in front of the shoulders, while the lower one occupies the middle line of the chest. The upper part of the muzzle is black, with a slight reddish tint on the sides; and the edges of the lips flesh-coloured. The hair, which is smooth on the muzzle, becomes shaggy on the back part of the head, from the base of the ears downwards, and adds considerably to the apparent volume of that part, but not quite to the same extent as in the Ursus labiatus, in old individuals of which it almost touches the ground. It was found by Dr. Wallich in the mountains of Nepaul, and by M. Duvaucel in those of Sylhet; and from this limited range the latter gentleman infers, perhaps a little too hastily, that its habitat is less extensive than that of its fellows. He also regards it as being more ferocious in its habits.

In this latter point alone, so far at least as we can at present judge, does the animal from which our figure was taken offer any remarkable discrepancy from the foregoing account. He could never be prevailed on to touch flesh either raw or cooked; and bread and fruits were the substances on which he was constantly fed. In his disposition he was moderately tame, and particularly fond of play, after his own rough and ludicrous fashion.

THE BORNEAN BEAR.

_URSUS (HELARCTOS) EURYSPILUS._ HORSF.

Of this very remarkable animal, the only individual of the species ever seen in Europe, and in fact the only one that has yet fallen under the notice of zoologists, so complete an account has been published by Dr. Horsfield, in the second volume of the Zoological Journal, that it would be presumptuous in us to attempt to add any thing to the masterly details which are there furnished both of its organization and habits. We shall therefore in the present instance, and with the less reluctance as the animal is no longer living for further reference, content ourselves with abstracting from that paper, as nearly as possible in the words of its author, the more interesting and prominent features of the history which is there given of the Bornean Bear; which, in conjunction with another closely related species, the Ursus Malayanus, Dr. Horsfield has separated from the other bears under the sub-generic title of Helarctos.

One of the most striking points on which this distinction is founded consists in the form of the head, which, instead of being flattened, as in the more northern species of the group, is nearly hemispherical above, the forehead rising in a strong arch immediately behind the nose, which is obtuse and very gradually attenuated. The gape of the mouth is considerable; and the tongue, which is long, narrow, and very extensile, is capable of being protruded for nearly a foot, and then curved inwards in a spiral manner, a habit in which the animal appears frequently to indulge. In the teeth the difference between this subdivision of the genus and the rest of the animals which compose it is unessential, the incisors and canines having no distinguishing characters, and the molars being apparently subject to the same variations as in the genuine bears.