BEAR TALK. 73 



" How many kinds of bear are there in this coun- 

 try?" asked Clare. 



"Only two, the grizzly and the black." 

 " Well, how about the silver-tip and the cinnamon?" 

 " I was just going to say that the cinnamon is a 

 variety of the black, while the silver- tip is a smaller 

 form of the grizzly. Bears vary greatly in size, even 

 when full grown. They also vary much in colour, 

 ranging from a light yellowish-brown to almost jet- 

 black. I have seen the skins of young grizzlies al- 

 most as light-coloured as wolves. The feet and lower 

 part of the legs are, however, dark, shading from 

 black to various tints of brown. The colour also de- 

 pends on the season. In the spring the old shaggy 

 hair is much lighter than the new fall coat. This 

 wide range in colour and size of the grizzly has done 

 much to encourage the notion that there are different 

 kinds of grizzlies in the United States. The cinna- 

 mon or brown bear seems to be only a colour variety 

 of the black. Those who claim that these bears are 

 different species say that the black and cinnamon 

 cross and make the different colours. This is really 

 an argument against the claimants, for different spe- 

 cies of animals do not cross. If they did they would 

 merge finally into one single species. The silver-tip 

 seems to be a well-marked variety of the grizzly." 



" How could one tell a silver- tip grizzly from a cin- 

 namon?" asked Brown. 



" A grizzly can usually be distinguished by the fact 

 that his front claws are twice as long as his hind 

 ones. They sometimes reach the length of five inches. 

 In the black or cinnamon there is not such a marked 



