50 HUNTING THE GRISLY. 



two species seems to be as yet scarcely com- 

 pleted ; there are more or less imperfect con- 

 necting links, and as regards the grisly it al- 

 most seems as if the specific characters were 

 still unstable. In the far northwest, in the 

 basin of the Columbia, the " black " bear is as 

 often brown as any other color ; and I have 

 seen the skins of two cubs, one black and one 

 brown, which were shot when following the 

 same dam. When these brown bears have 

 coarser hair than usual their skins are with 

 difficulty to be distinguished from those of 

 certain varieties of the grisly. Moreover, all 

 bears vary greatly in size ; and I have seen 

 the bodies of very large black or brown bears 

 with short fore-claws which were fully as heavy 

 as, or perhaps heavier than, some small but 

 full-grown grislies with long fore-claws. These 

 very large bears with short claws are very re- 

 luctant to climb a tree ; and are almost as 

 clumsy about it as is a young grisly. Among 

 the grislies the fur varies much in color and 

 texture even among bears of the same locality ; 

 it is of course richest in the deep forest, while 

 the bears of the dry plains and mountains are 

 of a lighter, more washed-out hue. 



A full grown grisly will usually weigh from 

 five to seven hundred pounds ; but exception- 

 al individuals undoubtedly reach more than 

 twelve hundredweight. The California bears 

 are said to be much the largest. This I think 

 is so, but I cannot say it with certainty at 

 any rate I have examined several skins of 

 full-grown Californian bears which were no 



