American Big Game in its Haunts 



you usually get Nish naiou ("I don't know") for 

 answer. The native gives this reply without think- 

 ing; it is so much easier. The most you can do is 

 to cheer him on when luck is bad, as he is easily 

 discouraged and becomes homesick. 



During the bad weather that followed we had 

 plenty of opportunity to use our ingenuity in ex- 

 tracting information from our men on the subject 

 of bear. 



It seems that the Kadiak bear hibernates, as a 

 rule, from December to April, depending on the 

 season somewhat, and the young are supposed to 

 be born in March in the dens. Although the skins 

 are good in the late fall, they are finest when the 

 bear first comes out in early spring, as it is then 

 that the hide is thinnest and the hair longest. On 

 the other hand, in summer, when the hair is very 

 thin, the hide becomes extremely thick and heavy; 

 this condition changing again as fall comes on. 

 The total amount of epidermis, in other words, 

 does not vary so much as one would suppose, and 

 whether the hide or the hair is responsible for most 

 of the weight depends on the time of year. 



When the animal leaves his den he finds food 

 scarce, and has to go on the principle that a full 

 stomach is better than an empty one, even if the 

 filling is made of alder twigs. It is not long, how- 



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