Fact versus Fiction 263 



A grizzly will, upon any pretext whatever, stand up and 

 look about him. Whenever he sees, or thinks he is going 

 to see, anything, up he goes to his full height on his hind 

 feet; but I have never seen one start to make a charge 

 from this position. 



Again, it is often supposed that some of the oddly 

 colored bears of the Rocky Mountain region are crosses 

 between the black and the grizzly bears. Any one who 

 has seen the agility with which a black bear will take to 

 a tree if a grizzly happens along, or has marvelled at the 

 refinement of scent or hearing that enables one to detect 

 the approach of a grizzly (and beat a silent retreat in con- 

 sequence) long minutes before a human watcher becomes 

 aware of a grizzly's presence in the neighborhood, would 

 not need the denial of science to help him discredit this 

 bit of genealogical speculation. 



But it would be an endless task to run down all these 

 flourishing misconceptions. Just to give an idea of how 

 they spread, I quote a few extracts from various articles 

 that have, from time to time, been solemnly put forth as 

 authoritative and even scientific. 



One writer blandly remarks that "all grizzlies inter- 

 breed, and this obliterates some characteristic marks of the 

 several species. On the southern Pacific coast the two gray 

 species the light and the mud grays are closely allied." 

 And, again, that "the original silver-tips sprang from 

 grizzly and brown bears, and they combine all the feroc- 

 ty and prowess of the former, with the agility and stub- 

 bornness of the latter." 



In summing up the food habits of the animal the 

 same writer says: 'He has a fondness for horse and 



