Grizzly Bear 



for mice in the grass, and digs them out with claws fashioned to 

 kill an ox at a blow. He also eats insects, berries and wild 

 plums, and munches green fodder in the meadows. The cubs 

 are said to be as funny and amusing as young bears of any sort, 

 and being less unwieldly than the old ones, frequently climb trees. 



When an old grizzly has established a hunting range for him- 

 self, he writes his challenge with his massive claws and tusks on 

 the trunk of a pine as high as he can reach. His tremendous 

 strength is generally known and respected by other four-footed 

 hunters, who might otherwise be tempted to poach on his preserves. 

 If another bear, wandering in search of better hunting grounds, 

 happens along this path, he is certain to see these warning claw 

 marks, and rising on his hind feet he also strikes the bark in a 

 similar manner. If he fails to scar the trunk as high as the other 

 bear has done, he continues on his travels, leaving the first in 

 undisputed possession. But if the new-comer finds that he can 

 reach as high or higher than the one who first left his challenge 

 there, he is more than likely to remain in the immediate vicinity, 

 scarring other trees here and there, and hunting when and where 

 he pleases. 



Unless the first bear has observed the challenge of the new- 

 comer, and, losing courage, retires from the neighbourhood, the 

 two are bound to meet sooner or later and a tremendous fight 

 ensues. 



When the supremacy has been finally decided, the vanquished 

 bear, if indeed he has not been killed outright, betakes himself to 

 some distant part of the forest to nurse his wounds in solitude. 



The method of challenging all comers is common to a great 

 many wild beasts, large and small; not only bears of all 

 kinds and many of the smaller hunters, but deer and moose as 

 well. And I am inclined to think that when the house-cat 

 stretches up to sharpen its claws on the trunk of a tree, it is a 

 similar challenge for other cats to read. 



And who knows but the same instinct, brought up from past 

 ages and more than half forgotten, urges domestic cattle to rub 

 their horns as high as they can reach against any smooth-boled 

 tree in the pasture just as moose and wild deer do in the forest ? 



262 



