Old Ephraim, the Grisly Bear 51 



history. They usually know only so much 

 about any given game animal as will enable 

 them to kill it. They study its habits solely 

 with this end in view; and once slain they only 

 examine it to see about its condition and fur. 

 With rare exceptions they are quite incapable 

 of passing judgment upon questions of specific 

 identity or difference. When questioned, they 

 not only advance perfectly impossible theories 

 and facts in support of their views, but they 

 rarely even agree as to the views themselves. 

 One hunter will assert that the true grisly is 

 only found in California, heedless of the fact 

 that the name was first used by Lewis and 

 Clark as one of the titles they applied to the 

 large bears of the plains country round the 

 Upper Missouri, a quarter of a century before 

 the California grisly was known to fame. An 

 other hunter will call any big brindled bear a 

 grisly no matter where it is found; and he and 

 his companions will dispute by the hour as to 

 whether a bear of large, but not extreme, size 

 is a grisly or a silver-tip. In Oregon the cin 

 namon bear is a phase of the small black bear; 

 in Montana it is the plains variety of the large 

 mountain silver-tip. I have myself seen the 

 skins of two bears killed on the upper waters 

 of Tongue River; one was that of a male, one 



