His Fierceness 243 



it by a single shot between the eyes. Moreover (he was 

 a man after my own heart), he had an 8 X 10 camera 

 with him. and, although this was in the days of wet-plate 

 photography, when he had got his bear, he packed his 

 apparatus to the spot, set up a tent, and built a fire to pre- 

 pare his emulsion, and took an excellent picture of the 

 dead animal that he reproduces in his book. 



The belief seems to be firmly established in the popu- 

 lar mind that the grizzly is markedly more pugnacious 

 and aggressive during the mating season than at other 

 times. However, not only has the personal experience of 

 many years led me to believe this idea to be unfounded, 

 but I know of only a single recorded instance that can, 

 even remotely, be said to uphold the claim. 



This is the experience of Drummond the botanist, 

 who, in the latter part of June, 1826, in the Rockies, saw 

 a male grizzly caressing a female. Soon after he noticed 

 that they came toward him, but whether by accident or 

 to attack he did not wait to see, but climbed a tree. He 

 then shot the female, "whereupon the enraged male rushed 

 up to his tree and reared against it, but did not try to 

 climb." The bear then returned to his fallen mate and 

 Drummond shot him also. 



Now here, as usual, the witness was the attacking 

 party, and the bear's pugnacity only developed after the 

 overt act; so that, although it is possible that the same 

 grizzly, if disturbed and fired upon while feeding instead 

 of love-making, would have run away, the evidence is 

 somewhat slight to uphold a sweeping statement in re- 

 gard to the species. 



On the other hand, we have James Capen Adams's 



