MAMMALS. 97 



track of a white goat across the snow bank until he struck the trail 

 we had made in going up the canyon four hours earlier. He had 

 left the goat track and followed our trail, but in the wrong direc- 

 tion — down the mountain instead of up — so we did not see him. A 

 few days later while on Flat Top Mountain I found where an old 

 grizzly and two cubs had been eating a mountain sheep up near 

 timberline. The tracks were not a day old, and the sheep had been 

 entirely eaten, except a few pieces of skin and bits of bone. AVhile 

 the snow was bloody and much trampled, there was no indication 

 that the sheep had been killed by these bears. More probably it had 

 been shot by hunters or killed and partly eaten by mountain lions 

 or wolves and then finished by the bears, which could not well have 

 caught an able-bodied mountain sheep on its own rocky slopes or 

 on deep, well-crusted snow. Throughout the forest in this region the 

 bear tracks, beds, and signs were abundant at the lower levels. Most 

 of the sign was composed of the remains of various green plants. 

 Near timberline on the warm slope of Flat Top Mountain the cones 

 under the white-barked pine trees had been chewed up as though by 

 hogs. This was undoubtedly the work of bears in shelling out the 

 pine seeds or nuts, of which they are especially fond. It was evi- 

 dently done during the previous fall while the squirrels were getting 

 the cones for their winter stores. 



From the early eighties to the time when Glacier Park was created, 

 in 1910, this was one of the most popular regions for hunting grizzly 

 bears in the whole United States, and many were killed each year 

 by sportsmen, and others were caught by the numerous trappers of 

 the region. In 1895 I found lines of bear traps between Summit and 

 Belton up to late in June. Even then some of the trappers who were 

 thoroughly familiar with the methods of killing large game for bear 

 bait considered bear trapping the greatest menace to the game of 

 that region. Traps were baited with mountain sheep, goats, and 

 doer, and I was told that at least 500 elk and moose were killed every 

 year for bear bait. Most of the trapping was done in spring, when 

 the bears first came out of hibernation and the fur was at its longest 

 and best. As they enter their dens for the winter hibernation with 

 the first cold weather and deep snows, usually in late October or 

 early November, and do not reappear until early in April, the time 

 for securing their skins in prime condition is short at either end 

 of the season. 



Order INSECTIVORA: Insect Eaters. 

 Family SORICID^: Shrews. 



Water ShreW' : Neosorex navigator navigator Baird. — The large, 

 long-tailed, velvety, black-backed and white-bellied water shrews are 



