in the water are mostly performed by the assistance of its powerful tapering tail.

LUTRA. (Lat. an Otter.)

Otter hunting is a very favourite sport in Scotland, where almost every stream is furnished with its otter. At the sight of the footsteps of the animal the popula tion round is in a commotion, the dogs are assembled, guns and spears provided, and the hunters go out in sufficient numbers and with sufficient arms to kill a tiger; and from all accounts it is quite as difficult an animal to destroy; for by diving, and biting, and hiding among

Vulgaris (Lat. common), the Otter.

stones, added to its great tenacity of life, it gives the hunters no little trouble to secure it.

The otter is easily tamed, and its predatory habits have been occasionally turned to account, as it is sometimes trained to catch fish and bring them to shore, precisely as the falcon is trained to catch terrestrial game.

The Hindoos have brought the art of otter training to great perfection, and keep their otters regularly tethered with ropes and straw collars on the banks of the river.

Several genera are omitted.

Family II... Ursidae (Lat. ursus, a bear. Bear kind).

Sub-family a. Ursina.

The BEARS and their allies are mostly heavy, and walk with the whole foot placed flat on the ground, unlike the cats, dogs, &c., who walk with merely their paws or toes. All the bears are omnivorous, that is, they can eat either animal or vegetable food, so that a leg of mutton, a pot of honey, a potato, or an apple, are each equally acceptable.

The BROWN BEAR inhabits the north of Europe, Switzerland, and the Pyrenees. It has been extirpated from England for many centuries, but is recorded to have been found in Scotland so late as 1057. The inhabitants of Northern Europe hunt it with much skill, and take it in traps and pitfalls, availing themselves of its love for honey. It is said that there exists a practice of placing the hive in a tree, and planting long spikes round its foot. A heavy log of wood is then suspended by a cord just before the entrance of the hive, and the trap is complete. The bear scents the honey and comes to look at the tree. The spikes rather astonish him, but he sniffs his way through them, and commences the ascent. When he has reached the hive, he is checked by the log hanging

before the entrance; this he finds is movable, and pushes aside, but it is just so long that a mere push will not entirely remove it, so he gives it a tremendous pat, and looks in at the entrance. Just as he has succeeded in putting his nose to the hive, the log returns and hits him very hard

on the head. This makes him exceedingly angry, and he pokes it away harder than ever, only to return with a more severe blow than before. He now has a regular fight with the log, hitting it first to one side and then to the other, the perverse block invariably striking his head every time, until at last a severer blow than usual knocks him fairly off the tree on to the spikes below.

In the time of Queen Elizabeth the bear used to be baited, that is to say, the bear was tied to a pole, and several dogs were set at him, the object being, to see whether the bear could bite the dogs, or the dogs bite the bear with the greater force; but this cruel sport is now happily extinct.

Two genera are omitted.

The GRIZZLY BEAR.-"Bernardin de Saint Pierre dit, 'A la vue de l'homme, les animaux sont frappés d'amour ou de crainte.' Il laissait de côté une troisième impression qu'éprouvent beaucoup d'animaux, à

l'aspect de l'homme; c'est la faim, et l'envie de le manger."* This observation_applies most fully to the Grizzly Bear, a native of North America. It is the most ferocious and powerful of its family, and is an animal which must either be avoided or fought, for there is no medium. If a Grizzly Bear once sees a man, it will probably chase him, and will do so with great perseverance. An American traveller told me lately, that he had been chased nearly thirty miles by one of these bears, who would probably have kept up the chase as many miles more, had not my informant crossed a wide river, over which the bear did not choose to follow him.

Some writers have said, that the Grizzly Bear will run away if he comes across the scent of men. This, my informant, who is a practical man, strenuously denies, and states that the man is more likely to run away from the bear, than the bear from the man. The American Indians

fear it so much, that a necklace of its claws, which may only be worn by the individual who destroyed the bear, is a decoration entitling the wearer to the highest honours. These formidable claws are five inches long, and cut like so many chisels, so that the Indian of former days,

* "Bernardin de St. Pierre said,-' At the sight of man, all animals are struck either with love or fear.' He forgot to mention a third impression made on many animals when they see a man, namely hunger, and a great desire to eat him.""

armed only with bow, spear, and knife, fully deserved honour, for overcoming so savage and powerful a brute. Since the introduction of firearms, the Grizzly Bear affords a rather easier victory, but even to one armed with all advantage of rifle and pistols, the fight is sure to be a severe one, for when the bear is once wounded, there is no attempt to escape, but life is pitted against life. Before the hunter commences the struggle he must have considerable confidence in his presence of mind, for every one knows how the least tremor of hand or eye, causes a rifle ball to wander far from its intended path, and a ball that does not penetrate a vital part only serves to irritate the bear.

Sometimes, it is said, after a party of hunters have been combating one of these bears, it is impossible to find four square inches of sound skin in the animal's body, a ball through the brain, or heart, appearing to be the only safety on the part of the hunter.

When a traveller is passing through a part of the country where he is likely to fall in with these animals, he provides himself with a quantity of meat strongly impregnated with some perfume. If a bear sees the traveller, and charges him, he throws down a small piece of his prepared meat. The bear stops and sniffs at it, and is dubious about it for some time, but at last finishes by eating it. During the time in which he is undecided, the traveller has gained considerable ground, and by a repetition of the same ruse, either tires the bear out, or meets with a sufficient body of friends to render him independent of the animal.

It is rather singular that this bear has the power of moving each claw separately, as we move our fingers. It is able to overcome and carry off the enormous bison, and to dig a pit in which to bury it.

The POLAR, or WHITE BEAR, called Nennook by the Esquimaux, lives in the Arctic regions, where it feeds on seals, fish, and even the walrus, but it dares not attack the latter animal openly. It is a formidable antagonist either by land or water, as it dives with great ease, and is able to chase the seal amid the waves. Nelson nearly lost his life by imprudently attacking one of these animals with no weapon but a rusty musket, which could not be induced to fire; and indeed had he not been separated from the infuriated bear by a cleft in the ice, he could hardly have escaped its claws. As the seals frequently crawl out of the water upon rocks or fragments of ice, the Polar bear is forced to swim after them ; but lest they should observe him he makes his approaches by a succession of dives, and contrives that the last dive brings him directly under the unsuspecting seal, who is immediately grasped and killed. Richardson states that these bears are often drifted from Greenland to Iceland on fields of ice, and that they find the flocks and herds so very delicious after a long course of seal diet, that the inhabitants are forced to rise in a body and put an end to their depredations.

To give this animal, who is constantly running over fields of ice, a firm footing, the soles of its feet are thickly covered with long hair, on

THALARCTOS.-(Gr. from eaλaooa, the Sea, and aрктоs, a Bear.)

Maritimus (Lat. belonging to the sea), the Polar Bear.

the same principle that induces elderly gentlemen to tie list round their shoes in the winter months, when they have reason to dread the slides that idle boys always have made on the pavement, and we suppose always will make.

The RACOON is an animal about the size of a large fox, and an inhabitant of Canada and other parts of America. It derives its name, lotor, from the habit it is said to possess, of washing its food before eating it. Its skin is very valuable, and is much sought after by American hunters, who pride themselves on their skill in shooting this active and wary animal. There is a story related by the Americans, of a hunter who was so excellent a marksman that when he entered a wood, the 'coons came down of their own accord, knowing that escape was impossible; but we must class this tale with the account of the man who could grin the bark off gum-trees, and the swift Indian, who could run so fast round a tree that he sometimes caught sight of his own back.

The food of the Racoon is principally small animals and insects. Oysters are also a very favourite article of its diet. It bites off the hinge of the oyster, and scrapes out the animal in fragments with its paws. Like a squirrel when eating a nut, the racoon usually holds its food between its fore-paws pressed together, and sits upon its hind