74 SPORTING ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST. 



but I learned from a correspondent that over twenty griz- 

 zlies were killed in that section during the season, though 

 the greater number were poisoned. 



A final word might be said about the position of the 

 grizzly in the animal world. Naturalists have called the 

 lion the " king of beasts," but they evidently knew little 

 of the grizzly at the time they made this decision. If 

 strength and courage are considered as recommendations 

 ta royalty in the quadrupedal world, then I think the griz- 

 zly ranks above the lion. I have not seen the former per- 

 form the feats said to be accomplished by the latter, of 

 trotting away with a heifer in its mouth, as it does not 

 generally carry its prey in that manner, as the felidce do ; 

 but I have known it to kill an elk weighing five or six 

 hundred pounds, and, in devouring it, to turn it over with 

 the greatest ease. It, so far as my experience and infor- 

 mation go, drags its prey along the ground if heavy, but 

 if light it has been known to carry it between its forelegs. 

 In magnanimity of character, if carnivorous animals can 

 possess such a trait, it is equal to the so-called " king of 

 beasts," for it has been known to wound a buffalo severely, 

 then let the poor creature escape. That it has killed two 

 and three buffaloes at a time with strokes of its huge 

 paws is a well-authenticated fact ; and it has been, to reit- 

 erate, known to drag a heavy bull, that must have weighed 

 from twelve to eighteen hundred pounds, a long distance. 

 I doubt if a lion can do this, and I am rather inclined to 

 think that in a contest between both animals the grizzly 

 would prove the victor. Sportsmen, unless provided with 

 heavy rifles, would therefore do well to beware of it; for 

 there is not a year, I suppose, that some men are not killed 

 by it, owing principally to their own foolhardiness in at- 

 tacking it with light weapons, or without the aid of com- 

 panions. 



