44 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

would not leave her young behind; not understanding they
were dead, she placed food before them, and by every affec-
tionate motion tried to induce them to eat; she then en-
deavoured to raise them, withdrew to a short distance, and
looked back, expecting them to follow, but seeing them still
motionless, she returned, and with inexpressible fondness
walked round, licking their wounds and moaning bitterly.
At last, as though convinced that they were indeed dead, she
uttered a fierce and bitter growl, which was answered by
another and more merciful shot, laying the affectionate
animal dead beside her young.

So fine a trait in the character of the bear was not lost on
the sacred writers, and consequently it occurs as a simile in
many parts of the Bible. In Proverbs xvii. 12, “Let a
bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in
his folly;” and again, 2 Samuel xviii. 8, “They be chafed
in their minds as a bear robbed of her whelps.” There is a
similar expression in Hosea.

The narrative related in 2 Kings ii. 28, where bears were
made the instrument of punishment to the profane despisers .
of Elisha, is another proof that the Syrian bear (U. Syriacus,
Plate I.) was then a common inhabitant of the country. It
will not be deemed out of place, in connection with this