The rocky fastnesses of the Alps still afford a home to some of the larger wild animals which in other parts of Europe have gradually disappeared with the advance of civilisation. During the latter part of the "Stone Age," long before history was written, when men used axes, hammers, arrow-heads, and other implements of stone, instead of bronze or iron, Switzerland was inhabited by animals which are not to be seen now. The gigantic urus (_Bos primigenius_), which flourished in the forests of the interior during this prehistoric human period, and gave its name to the canton of Uri, has become extinct. The marsh hog was living during the period of the Swiss lake-dwellers. These people made their houses on piles driven in near the shore, and were acquainted with the use of bronze, and therefore later than the men of the "Stone Age." The remains of these strange dwelling-places have been discovered in several places, as well as many articles of daily use. The marsh hog has disappeared; and its place is taken by the wild boar and domestic hog, which afford sport and food to the present population. But taking Switzerland as it now is, we will say a few words about the more interesting forms of animal life dwelling in the Alps, beginning with those which are highest in the animal kingdom. Chief among these is the brown bear, still occasionally found, but it is exceedingly rare, except in the Grisons and in the districts of the Tyrol and Italy bordering on the canton, where it still carries on its ravages.[18] Some also believe that it still lingers in the rocky fastnesses of the Jura Mountains, to the east of the Alps. There is properly only one species of bear in Switzerland, but the hunters generally speak of three,--the great black, the great grey, and the small brown. The second of these is merely an accidental variety of the first; but between the grey and the small brown bears there is a good deal of difference. They assert that the black bear is not only considerably larger than the brown, but is also different in its habits. It is less ferocious and prefers a vegetable diet,--feeding on herbs, corn, and vegetables, with the roots and branches of trees. It has a way of plundering bee-hives and also ants' nests; it delights in strawberries and all kinds of fruit, plundering the orchards, and even making raids on the vineyards, but always retreating before dawn. As a rule it does not attack human beings. The brown bear is much more formidable, prowling by night about the sheepfolds, and causing the sheep by their fright to fall down precipices. Goats, when alarmed, leap on the roofs of the châlets, and bleat, in order to arouse the shepherds; so that when Bruin rears himself up against the wall he often meets his death. There are many stories on record of fierce fights for life between man and bear. The bear passes the winter in a torpid state, and eats little or nothing then.