Photo by New York Zoological Society.
AMERICAN BLACK BEAR.
The black bear was the species first encountered by the early settlers on the Atlantic side of America. The grizzly belongs to the Rocky Mountain region.
The American Brown Bear.
The brown bear of America is closely allied to that of Europe; it was first described by Sir John Richardson, who called it the Barrenlands Bear, and noted, quite rightly, that it differed from the grizzly in the smallness of its claws. The difference in the profile is very marked—the brown bear having a profile like that of the European bear, while that of the grizzly is flat. The brown bear of North America lives largely on the fruits and berries of the northern plants, on dead deer, and on putrid fish, of which quantities are left on the banks of the northern rivers. Whether the large brown bear of the Rocky Mountains is always a grizzly or often this less formidable race is doubtful. The writer inclines to think that it is only the counterpart of the North European and the North Asiatic brown bear. The following is Sir Samuel Baker's account of these bears. He says: "When I was in California, experienced informants told me that no true grizzly bear was to be found east of the Pacific slope, and that Lord Coke was the only Britisher who had ever killed a real grizzly in California. There are numerous bears of three if not four kinds in the Rocky Mountains. These are frequently termed grizzlies; but it is a misnomer. The true grizzly is far superior in size, but of similar habits, and its weight is from 1,200 lbs. to 1,400 lbs." After giving various reasons for believing this to be a fair weight, Sir Samuel Baker adds that this weight is equivalent to that of an English cart-horse. There are certainly three Rocky Mountain bears—the Grizzly, the Brown, and the small Black Bear. There is probably also another—a cross between the black and the brown. It is ridiculous to say that the brown bears which come to eat the refuse on the dust-heaps of the hotels in the Yellowstone Park, and let ladies photograph them, are savage grizzly bears.
Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S.] [North Finchley.
YOUNG SYRIAN BEAR FROM THE CAUCASUS.
This is, properly speaking, a Syrian bear, but the species is found in the Caucasus and in the Taurus Range.