174 CAMP-FIRES IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES 



search for edible insects, they overturn stones and tear 

 old logs to pieces. Under every third stone (in suitable 

 situations), a nest of ants is found; and these are greatly 

 relished. To a bear, those sour and acidulous insects are 

 much the same as pickles are to the human palate. The 

 grizzly hunts up and devours all animals killed by snow- 

 slides. Mr. Phillips once knew a dead pack-rat to be 

 eaten. In the Bush River country, Charlie Smith saw 

 the remains of a grizzly that had been killed by a snow- 

 slide, and afterward had been dug out and eaten by an- 

 other grizzly! 



By the end of July the shedding of the old coat of 

 hair is completed, and the silver-tip stands forth clad in 

 a glossy new suit of dark brown, several shades darker 

 than the old coat. It is very short, however, even in 

 comparison with the September coat. 



August. — In the valleys of the large rivers, berries 

 begin to ripen, and the bears at once begin to feed upon 

 them. Naturally the berries of the lowest and warmest 

 valleys are the first to mature; and as the season advances, 

 the boundary-line of the ripening fruit extends higher 

 and higher up the mountains. In the highest valleys and 

 mountains the berries do not ripen until September, just 

 before the first heavy fall of snow. Strawberries come 

 first, but they are so thinly scattered the total amount of 

 food they furnish is small. Next comes the saskatoon, 

 or service-berry, which is an important item of food, and 

 whenever ripe is much sought by bears. They last so 

 late into September that they detain the bears in the 

 valleys of the large rivers when otherv\dse the animals 



