56 Hunting the Grisly 



ern Rockies. The Alaskan bears, particularly 

 those of the peninsula, are even bigger beasts ; 

 the skin of one which I saw in the possession 

 of Mr. Webster, the taxidermist, was a good 

 deal larger than the average polar bear skin; 

 and the animal when alive, if in good condi 

 tion, could hardly have weighed less than 

 1,400 pounds.* Bears vary wonderfully in 

 weight, even to the extent of becoming half as 

 heavy again, according as they are fat or lean; 

 in this respect they are more like hogs than 

 like any other animals. 



The grisly is now chiefly a beast of the high 

 hills and heavy timber; but this is merely be 

 cause he has learned that he must rely on cover 

 to guard him from man, and has forsaken the 

 open ground accordingly. In old days, and in 

 one or two very out-of-the-way places almost 

 to the present time, he wandered at will over 

 the plains. It is only the wariness born of 

 fear which nowadays causes him to cling to 

 the thick brush of the large river-bottoms 

 throughout the plains country. When there 

 were no rifle-bearing hunters in the land, to 

 harass him and make him afraid, he roved 



* Both this huge Alaskan bear and the entirely distinct 

 bear of the barren grounds differ widely from the true 

 grisly, at least in their extreme forms. 



