trustingly put fore paws upon his knee, looking 

 seriously, confidingly into his face. We carried 

 these little orphans to camp, and the hunter raised 

 them. Their mother was the last animal that he 

 ever shot. 



The cubs are born in the hibernating cave in 

 January, February, or March, probably the ma- 

 jority in February. The number at birth commonly 

 is two, but sometimes there are three and occa- 

 sionally even four. Each is about the size of a chip- 

 munk, weighing from ten to twenty ounces. 



Generally the mother does not come forth for 

 either food or drink for some weeks after the cubs 

 are born. She stays in the den a month longer than 

 bears without cubs. Curled around the little bears 

 in the den, she nourishes them from her store of 

 fat. The cubs grow slowly, and on leaving the den 

 are often only a trifle larger than a cotton-tail rab- 

 bit, weighing from ten to fifteen pounds. The griz- 

 zly appears to give birth to cubs only every second 

 year. Though yearlings have been seen with a 

 mother and cubs, it is likely that they did not be- 

 long to her. 



In proportion to the size of the mother, the griz- 

 zly is one of the smallest of animals at birth, weigh- 



25 



