Encyclopædia americana. A popular dictionary of arts, sciences, literature, history, politics and biography, a new ed.; including a copious collection of original articles in American biography; on the basis of the 7th ed. of the German Conversations-lexicon. Ed. by Francis Lieber, assisted by E. Wigglesworth ...

18 BEAR-BEARD.
very strong, hooked claws, well suited pose. When ice was placed in the cage,
tor burrowing.-Five species at present it rolled upon it with great satisfhction,
belong to this genus. The LinnTan genus and showed every sign of being gratified.
comprised the raccoon, badger, &c., now, -The black bear of America is distinproperly, separated fromn it. These spe- guished by its color and a peculiarly con-,
cies are, the brown bear of Europe (U. vex facial outline. It is found very genarctos); the white or polar bear (U. mar- erally in mountainous and forest lands,
itimus); the American or black bear (U. and subsists, in a great degree, on berries
Jmericanus); the grisly bear (U. horrib- and vegetable substances, though it preys
ilis), also of America; and the Malay- upon small animals, and insects, which it
an or Asiatic bear (U. labiatus).-The searches for industriously, by turning over
brown bear is chiefly an inhabitant of large logsofdecayed timber. Itis rarely,
cold and elevated situations, and feeds on if ever, known to attack man, unless in
a great variety of animal and vegetable self-defence. It is very fond of young
substances. During winter, this species, corn and honey, which, being an expert
like some others, remains torpid in caves, climber, like the brown European bear, it
whither it retires, in the autumn, very fat, obtains by plundering the wild bees.and comes out, in the spring, extremely The grisly bear inhabits the country ademaciated. The brown bear is remarka- jacent to the Rocky mountains, and is,
ble for its sagacity, as well as the ferocity of all the race, the most dreadfilf for size,
of its disposition, and it becomes espe- strength and terrible ferocity of nature.*
cially sanguinary as it advances in age. -The Malay, Asiatic or long-lipped bear,
Besides the differences of color and size is a native of the mountainous parts of
which distinguish this bear from those India, and feeds on white ants, rice, honey,
belonging to the old continent, it differs the fruit of the palm, &c. Tile spefrom the Amnerican bears, by having a cies is inoffinsive and timid, burrows in
convexity of front above the eyes, which the ground, and lives in pairs, together
renders its physiognomy strikingly dis- with the young, which, when alarmed,
similar to theirs. Other distinctions, suffi- seek safety by mounting on the backs of
ciently obvious, present themselves when the parents.
the species are compared.-The polar, or BEARD; the hair round the chin, on
maritime bear, is only found in high the cheeks and the upper lip, which is a
northern latitudes, along the borders of distinction of the male sex. It differs
the Icy ocean and northern coasts of from the hair on the head by its greater
America in the vicinity of Hudson's bay. hardness and its form. The beard begins
It does not descend to the eastern coast to grow at the time of puberty. The
of Siberia nor Kamtschatka; neither is it connexion between the beard and puberfound in the islands lying between Sibe- ty is evident from this, among other cirria and America. It is uniformly white, cumstances, that it never grows in the
attains a large size, is very powerful, fe- case of eunuchs who have been such
rocious and daring. It is an excellent from childhood; but the castration of
diver and swimmer, being apparently as adults does not cause the loss of the
much at home in the ocean as on land. beard. According to Cesar, the GerAn individual of this species was seen, by mans thought, and perhaps justly, the
the late northern explorers, in the mid- late growth of' the beard favorable to the
dile of Melville sound, swimming across, developement of all the powers. But there
where the shores were at least 30 miles are cases in which this circumstance is an
apart. The polar bear is the most exclu- indication of feebleness. It frequently
sively carnivorous of the genus, though takes place in men of tender constitution.
equally capable of living on vegetable whose pale color indicates little power
food with the rest. He preys upon seals, The beards of different nations afford an
the cubs of the whale, morse, &c., or the interesting study. Some have hardly
*carcasses of whales left by whalers after any, others a great profusion. The latter
removing the blubber. Individuals of generally consider it as a great ornament,
this species are sometimes, though rarely, the former pluck it out; as, for instance,
seen in caravans of wild animals in the the American Indians. The character
U. States. A large and beautiful one was of the beard differs with that of the indiexhibited in New York, in the spring of vidual, and, in the case of nations, varies
1826, and, notwithstanding the coolness
of the weather, it appeared to suffer ex- * For the detailed history of this and the two
ptremely from heat, as it bathed itself preceding species, too extensive to be introduced
tremely f rom heat, as it bathed r i ntself lIto this work, see the first volume of the Av7erifrequently in water provided for the pur- can Natural History, by the writer of this article.