Old Epkraim, the Grisly Bear. 275 



open the throat or craunched the neck bone. Some of his 

 victims were slain far from the river, in winding, brushy 

 coulies of the Bad Lands, where the broken nature of the 

 ground rendered stalking easy. Several of the ranchmen, 

 angered at their losses, hunted their foe eagerly, but 

 always with ill success ; until one of them put poison in a 

 carcass, and thus at last, in ignoble fashion, slew the cat- 

 tle-killer. 



Mr. Clarence King informs me that he was once eye- 

 witness to a bear's killing a steer, in California. The steer 

 was in a small pasture, and the bear climbed over, partly 

 breaking down, the rails which barred the gateway. The 

 steer started to run, but the grisly overtook \\ in four or 

 five bounds, and struck it a tremendous blow on the flank 

 with one paw, knocking several ribs clear away from the 

 spine, and killing the animal outright by the shock. 



Horses no less than horned cattle at times fall victims 

 to this great bear, which usually spring on them from the 

 edge of a clearing as they graze in some mountain pasture, 

 or among the foot-hills ; and there is no other animal of 

 which horses seem so much afraid. Generally the bear, 

 whether successful or unsuccessful in its raids on cattle 

 and horses, comes off unscathed from the struggle ; but 

 this is not always the case, and it has much respect for 

 the hoofs or horns of its should-be prey. Some horses do 

 not seem to know how to fight at all ; but others are both 

 quick and vicious, and prove themselves very formidable 

 foes, lashing out behind, and striking with their fore-hoofs. 

 I have elsewhere given an instance of a stallion which beat 

 off a bear, breaking its jaw. 



