Notes on Memories of a Bear Hunter 



tribes where the bear is tabu, ~ it is possible to find 

 a captive woman from another tribe who does not 

 fear the bear, and is willing to do the work. Certain 

 medicine men are at liberty to wear about the head a 

 fillet of dressed bear hide, and of these some may sit 

 upon a bear robe ; but these are few. Many people do 

 not feel free to speak the bear's name, but instead 

 call him "sticky mouth." Among the plains Indians 

 I have not heard of any story implying the descent 

 of people from the grizzly bear. 



65. This is Bennett's Creek, where Captain Bennett 

 was killed in 1878. See Note 44. 



66. They make the noise partly with the throat, 

 and do it either inhaling or exhaling the air. Though 

 not a loud noise, the sound seems to carry a long dis- 

 tance. It can be heard three-quarters of a mile away. 

 I know of no sound or cry made by an animal that 

 it can be compared to. 



A matter that is scarcely, or not at all, mentioned 

 in books on natural history is the early life of the 

 young calf elk. As Colonel Pickett says, the cow elk 

 keep close together for protection, and usually the 

 calves do not keep close to their mothers, but herd 

 together in a bunch by themselves off to one side of 

 the cow, much as young buffalo calves keep by them- 

 selves at a similar age. Sometimes these calves make 

 a great noise, calling almost constantly, either to each 

 other or for their mothers. The call is not a bleat, 

 nor a bawl such as is uttered by the domestic animal 

 of the same age, but rather a shrill, high-pitched 



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