48 HUNTING THE GRISLY. 



and shoulders, especially if killed in the spring, 

 when the fur is shaggy, is forthwith dubbed a 

 " roach-back." The average sporting writer 

 moreover joins with the more imaginative 

 members of the " old hunter " variety in as- 

 cribing wildly various traits to these different 

 bears. One comments on the superior prowess 

 of the roach-back ; the explanation being that 

 a bear in early spring is apt to be ravenous 

 from hunger. The next insists that the Cali- 

 fornia grisly is the only really dangerous bear; 

 while another stoutly maintains that it does 

 not compare in ferocity with what he calls the 

 " smaller " silver-tip or cinnamon. And so 

 on, and so on, without end. All of which is 

 mere nonsense. 



Nevertheless, it is no easy task to determine 

 how many species or varieties of bear actually 

 do exist in the United States, and I cannot 

 even say without doubt that a very large set 

 of skins and skulls would not show a nearly 

 complete intergradation between the most 

 widely separated individuals. However, there 

 are certainly two very distinct types, which 

 differ almost as widely from each other as a 

 wapiti does from a mule deer, and which exist 

 in the same localities in most heavily timbered 

 portions of the Rockies. One is the small 

 black bear, a bear which will average about 

 two hundred pounds weight, with fine, glossy, 

 black fur, and the fore-claws but little longer 

 than the hinder ones ; in fact the hairs of the 

 fore-paw often reach to their tips. . This bear 

 is a tree climber. It is the only kind found 



