fired at them, when many will charge at
once, and desperately. The Himalayan Black Bear will not only do this
_almost invariably_, but often attacks men without any provocation
whatever, and is altogether about the most fierce, vicious,
dangerous brute to be met with either in the hills or plains of India.
They inflict the most horrible wounds, chiefly with their paws, and
generally--as Mr. Sterndale states--on the face and head. I have
repeatedly met natives in the interior frightfully mutilated by
encounters with the Black Bear, and cases in which Europeans have
been killed by them are by no means uncommon. These brutes are totally
different in their dispositions to the Brown Bear (_Ursus
Isabellinus_), which, however desperately wounded, will never
charge. I believe there is no case on record of a hunter being charged
by a Brown Bear; or even of natives, under any circumstances, being
attacked by one; whereas every one of your readers who has ever
marched in the Himalayas must have come across many victims of the
ferocity of _Ursus Tibetanus_. As I said before, this brute often,
unwounded, attacks man without any provocation whatever. Two cases
that I know of myself may not be without interest. An officer shooting
near my camp was stalking some thar. He was getting close to them,
when a Black Bear rushed out at him from behind a large rock on his
right and above him. He was so intent on the thar, and the brute's
rush was so sudden, that he had barely time to pull from the hip,
but he was fortunate enough to kill the animal almost at his feet.
I heard this from him on the morning after it happened. On another
occasion, I was shooting in Chumba with a friend. One evening he
encamped at a village, about which there was, as usual, a little
cultivation on terraces, and a good many apricot-trees. Lower down
the khud there was dense jungle. The villagers told us that a Black
Bear had lately been regularly visiting these trees, and generally
came out about dusk, so that if we would go down and wait, we should
be pretty sure of a shot. We went, and took up positions behind trees,
about 200 yards apart, each of us having a man from the village with
us. Intervening jungle prevented us from seeing each other. I had
not been at my post more than ten minutes when I was startled by loud
shrieks and cries from the direction of my companion. No shot was
fired, and the coolie with me said that the bear had killed some one.
In less th