1046 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



the open country. The Blackbear is much at home in the trees, 

 so are the Grizzly cubs, but adult Grizzlies do not climb. 

 It is commonly supposed that they cannot, but Superintendent 

 A. E. Brown, of the Philadelphia Zoo, assures me that he once 

 saw a tame adult Grizzly climb a smooth telegraph-pole to the 

 crosstrees. It had, however, to be greatly urged before it 

 would make the attempt; and it is a fact that the wild adult 

 does not climb. The hunter who succeeds in getting up a tree 

 is as safe from a Grizzly as from a bull. 



FOOD Though omnivorous in food habit, the Grizzly is more 



carnivorous than the Blackbear. Its great strength enables 

 it even to master the range steer as it once did the Buffalo. 

 Some individuals are much more given to meat diet than others, 

 and such have become veritable nuisances on the cattle-range 

 near their head-quarters. On the open prairie the Grizzly is 

 said to feed largely on the prairie-turnip (Psoralea esculenta) 

 alternated with Ground-squirrels, Gophers, and other products 

 of the soil. For procuring these, its armed feet are a perfect 

 combination of crane and crow-bar, pick and shovel, rake and 

 forceps. 



Like the elephant's trunk, their mighty force in heaving a 

 huge log or boulder is only equalled by their manual dexterity 

 in picking up eatable mites. I have seen a Grizzly use two 

 claws to pick up small objects, exactly as a Chinaman might use 

 his chopsticks. I have noticed further that it never uses two 

 claws when one will better serve. 



DENNING Like its kin, the Grizzly does not den up any sooner than 



it can help; that is, it roams its range as long as it can find food. 

 The males remain active longer than the females, and in 

 the southern part of the range they do not den up at all. W. H. 

 Wright is of the opinion, however, that in Montana the denned- 

 up Grizzly does not come out until a month or six weeks after 

 the Blackbear.'" 



TRAILS This Bear also has fixed pathways through the woods and 



over difficult places. These it will use for years, till they are 



* See Note 13. 



