16 THfe NATURAL HISTORY OF ALASKA. 



from the grizzly bear and from each other as regards the 

 dentition, cranial peculiarities, and other characteristic features. 



The authorities at the Smithsonian Institute at Washington 

 inform me that they now recognise four varieties of brown bears 

 in Alaska, which are classified under the headings of Ursus 

 Middendorffi, Ursus D alii gy as, Ursus Kidderi, and Ursus D alii. I 

 am inclined to think that, although we collected 1 3 brown bears 

 from various parts of the country, they all belonged to the species 

 Ursus Dalit gyas. These bears are reported to reach a fabulous size, 

 and cases have been quoted in the Badminton and elsewhere of 

 specimens which measure as much as 1 3 feet in length from tip to 

 tail. I have satisfied myself that these measurements are absurd, 

 although I have seen skins which have been stretched on pegs 

 and frames by the natives, and which have exceeded 1 2 feet in 

 length. I killed one very large old male bear on the Alaska 

 Peninsula in June, 1903, which was pronounced by the natives 

 and some old hunters who saw the beast to be the largest 

 specimen which they had ever seen. The exact length of this 

 animal in a straight line between two upright pegs was 

 7 feet 9^ inches from nose to tail, and, in my opinion, this may 

 be taken as a very large specimen of the Alaskan brown bear. I 

 also weighed the carcase and hide, &c., the total being i,oi4lbs. 

 I have seen several men who claim to have killed bears of this 

 kind which exceeded i,6oolbs. in weight, but I cannot accept 

 such estimates as correct unless they are personally taken by a 

 careful sportsman, provided, as I was, with a proper weighing 

 machine. In the spring the food of these huge bears consists 

 of grass, and later in the season they catch the salmon, which 

 run in countless millions up most of the Alaskan rivers. By 

 nature these animals are not so ferocious as the grizzly bears, and 

 do not often attack unless wounded. I have, however, been 

 charged by an old she bear with cubs, and narrowly escaped 

 from the encounter with a whole skin after dropping my 

 assailant and one of her cubs right on the end of my rifle. 



The black bear (Ursus Amcricanus] is very plentiful throughout 

 Alaska, as far north as Cook's Inlet, but it is not found beyond 



