362 Wild Beasts 



developed. J. R. Bartlett, while acting upon the boundary 

 commission between the United States and Mexico, says 

 that at his encampment by the geysers of Pluton River his 

 party found signs of these animals' proximity, but that 

 they managed to avoid meeting the intruders, chiefly, as 

 he supposed, by means of their scenting powers. Lieu- 

 tenant J. W. Abert, while hidden with a companion at 

 fifty yards from three grizzlies, was detected in this way, 

 and the majority of observers have remarked upon the 

 goodness of their noses. It is also said that they have an 

 aversion to human effluvium, and that a warm trail will 

 cause one to turn aside more certainly than the sight of a 

 hunter. This needs confirmation, and may be taken with 

 the same reservation which should attach to Godman's 

 statement that the grizzly " is much more intimidated by 

 the voice than the aspect of man." No doubt bears may 

 have failed to push a charge home because their intended 

 victim screamed with terror, but both in this case and in 

 that just mentioned, while speaking of the influence of 

 odor, so soon as such experiences are created into gen- 

 eral truths, they can be met with facts by which they are 

 stultified. 



Nothing, so far as the author knows, has been ad- 

 vanced upon the subject of a male grizzly's paternal 

 virtues or conjugal affections. As is the rule with fierce 

 beasts, offspring depend upon the mother for care and 

 protection. Two or three cubs are born together in 

 spring, and they have been seen in her company from 

 infancy up to an age when apparently able to shift for 

 themselves. Very little is known, however, about the im- 



