BEAR FAMILY 



95 



furry ears, and as I carried him dripping and 

 kicking to the bank, the mountains re-echoed to 

 his grievances. We used our heavy woolen 

 socks to muzzle his mouth and paws, and then, 

 rolling him up in a pack strap, I swung him onto 

 my back. . . . We fed the cub on raw sea- 

 gulls' eggs, and he thrived on the diet." 



Alaska Bears prefer to stay near the coast, as 

 their natural food is found in the vicinity of salt 

 water. Their chief diet consists of salmon, of 

 which they consume large quantities, as the fish 

 swarm up the small rivers and shallow streams. 



The run of the various kinds of salmon lasts 

 from June to October. During this period the 

 Bears fatten up and upon this fat they live 

 through their long winter sleep. They den up 

 for the winter some time in November, depend- 

 ing upon the latitude and the severity of the 

 weather. 



Most Bears remain in their den until April 

 before emerging, but occasionally, for one rea- 

 son or another, they will roam abroad even in 

 midwinter. Possibly their cjuarters become un- 

 comfortable and they are compelled to look up 

 another den. 



Usually they select their dens well up on the 

 rough and broken movmtain sides, where the 

 rocks form a natural cave, and it is probable 

 that the same winter quarters are used year after 

 year. The male Bear is the first to come out in 

 the spring. On emerging he partakes very 

 sparingly of food and only nips the tender tops 

 of green grasses, and in fresh water localities 

 of skunk cabbage, until he becomes used to eating 

 and digesting food again. 



He now turns his attention to the salmon 

 berry and roots. By this time he is feeling quite 

 himself again, and now begins to wander 

 far and wide for the track of a female. After 

 finding a mate he follows her persistently and 

 it is at this time the mating season begins. This 

 period lasts generally from the first of May 

 till July. 



The cubs are born in the winter den of their 

 mother, usually about the first of the year, or in 

 February. They are very tiny, compared to the 

 size of their mother, and would weigh sometimes 

 near a pound and a half. There are from one to 

 four in a litter, two I think, more often occur- 

 ring. Their eyes are not open and they are quite 

 helpless for the first few weeks. 



The cubs follow their mother, and den with 

 her the first fall, and it is not until the second 

 fall that they shift for themselves. They grow to 

 enormous size, just how large no one can accur- 



ately state. There is one mounted in the Ameri- 

 can Museum of Natural History that weighed, 

 when alive, 1600 pounds. It stood four feet 

 four inches at the shoulders and measured eight 

 feet in length. Dr. Hornaday once showed me 

 an unstretched skin that measured nine feet, four 

 inches. 



When one considers that a big lion will not 

 weigh more than 500 pounds, one will gain some 

 idea of the huge bulk of this beast. The length of 

 an animal's skin can only be fairly measured, and 

 properly, by doing the measuring before it is 

 removed from the animal. A skin stretched 

 and measured means very little, as it is possible 

 to stretch a skin into almost any shape or size. 



The head of the Alaska Bear is very massive, 

 and he stands high at the shoulder. This char- 

 acteristic is emphasized by a thick tuft of hair 

 which stands erect on the dorsal ridge above the 

 shoulder. 



The Bear's senses of smell and hearing are 

 developed to an extreme degree. Its vision 

 however, as in most of the Bear family, is not 

 particularly good. The difficulty seems to be in 

 discerning or separating objects that are inert: 

 for instance, if a man remains perfectly still, 

 he is not likely to be detected, unless scented or 

 some movement is made. 



The color of the pelage ranges from a creamy 

 tan to a dark brown, and in some cases almost 

 black. 



In several sections the Alaskan Bears have 

 been divided into subspecies under the follow- 

 ing names : Those found on Kodiak Island 

 are classed under the name of Ursiis middcn- 

 dorffi. They have long noses and belong to the 

 long-skulled group with the large and slightly 

 curved claws. This species was first described 

 by a man who bore the name of Middendorf, 

 and in whose honor it was named. This same 

 species is found also on the mainland, and I 

 had the good fortune to shoot one at the head 

 of Snug Harbor, which is on the west coast of 

 Cook Inlet. Chinitna Bay is thirty miles south 

 of Snug Harbor, and in both of these sections 

 the Ursns iniddendorfR and another subspecies 

 are found. The second is classified under the 

 name of Ursns kidderi, and is generally of a 

 lighter color on the body and darker on the legs, 

 while the nose and skull are shorter than the 

 Kodiak variety. The Bears from the Copper 

 Ri\er districts are the short and thick-muzzled 

 species, and take the name of Ursns dalli. The 

 Admiralty Bear, Ursiis culoplnts, represents a 



