ARCTIC GAME NOTES 



15 



mal's stores of roots than for the animal itself. The bear's stomach is 

 much more apt to contain masu roots {Polygonum Bistorta) than flesh. 

 A bear must needs be very active to catch enough spermophiles above ground 

 in spring and early 

 summer, and if car- 

 casses are not to be 

 found the bears evi- 

 dently suffer from 

 hunger at this season 

 when they can neither 

 dig roots for them- 

 selves in the frozen 

 ground nor dig out 

 the spermophiles and 

 their stores. 



One specimen was 

 killed by an Eskimo 

 of our party on Dease 

 River east of Great 

 Bear Lake, after the 

 bear had gorged him- 

 self on a cache of 

 caribou meat. A few 

 were met with in the 

 Coppermine country, 

 but through the Cor- 

 onation Gulf region 

 they are apparently 

 rare. The Eskimo 

 say that the species 

 is not found on Vic- 

 toria Island. Fortu- 

 nately for the brown 

 bear's longevity, there 

 is little market for 

 his skin and neither 

 Eskimo nor Indians 

 make a special effort 

 to hunt him, the speci- 

 mens obtained in gen- 

 eral being picked up Mosquitos in the Colville River delta, Arctic Alaska, 

 -, about 71° N. Lat., July 5, 1909. The Eskimo, Natkusiak, 

 On summer caribou had stood still for a minute or two and refrained from 

 hunts. brushing them off while loading our umiak 



