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the top of an aspen with both paws, bent it down, 

 and bit it off. It was similar to the fashion followed 

 in eating wild plums and choke-cherries. A bear will 

 reach up and pull down the top of a plum tree, and, 

 biting it off, eat the small limbs, the bark, the 

 leaves, and the fruit. A grizzly browsing in a wild 

 raspberry-patch will bite off the tops of the vines 

 together with the berries, the leaves, and the 

 thorns. Sometimes the twigs and terminal buds of 

 the pine, the fir, and the spruce are eaten. 



One day I saw a grizzly approaching in a manner 

 which indicated that he knew exactly where he 

 was going. On arriving at an alder clump by the 

 brook he at once began tearing off the bark and 

 eating it. On another occasion I watched a bear 

 strip nearly all the bark within reach from a young 

 balsam fir. I have often seen places where bears 

 had bitten and torn chunks of bark from aspens 

 and cottonwoods. Though they also tear the bark 

 from pine and spruce trees, I do not believe that 

 this is eaten as frequently as the bark of the broad- 

 leaved trees. 



During the first few weeks after coming out of 

 the winter den much of the grizzly's food is likely 

 to be of the salad order — juicy young plant stalks, 



66 



