204 The Grizzly Bear 



to my presence, and whenever he dug up anything from 

 the earth that I did not recognize, I would open his mouth, 

 take it away from him, and keep it while I examined it. 



When the cubs first come from their dens at from two 

 to three months of age, they are about the size of a house 

 cat, and will weigh from ten to fifteen pounds. At from 

 five to six months of age, that is to say, in July or August, 

 they will probably weigh about thirty pounds. Late in 

 the fall, when ready to den up again, they will tip the 

 scales at from fifty to seventy-five pounds. When a 

 grizzly is nearly two years old, that is, in the second fall, 

 when he is ready to den up for the winter, he will ordinarily 

 weigh anywhere from one hundred and fifty to two hun- 

 dred pounds. 



In their wild state the cubs den up with the mother 

 for the winter following their birth, and follow her during 

 the second summer, after which they are cast aside to 

 shift for themselves, and the old lady will again den up 

 alone, bringing out another litter of cubs the following 

 spring. Naturalists, who have studied these bears in 

 captivity, claim that they then breed every year, but I am 

 satisfied that this is not true of them in a state of nature. 

 In the open, one sees as many she grizzlies with yearling 

 cubs as one sees with little spring cubs. 



When a litter of young grizzlies come to leave their 

 mother they do not, as a rule, separate, but travel in com- 

 pany for at least a year; and it is, I imagine, this habit of 

 theirs that has given rise to the idea that the full-grown 

 animals are gregarious. I know that in some cases, and I 

 believe in most, if not all, the cubs den up together for 

 their second winter, and it is (or used to be, alas!) a com- 



