OLD EPHRAIM, THE GRISL Y BEAR, 63 



to feast on animals which have met their 

 death by accident, or which have been killed by 

 other beasts or by man, than to do his own kill- 

 ing. He is a very foul feeder, with a strong 

 relish for carrion, and possesses a grewsome 

 and cannibal fondness for the flesh of his 

 own kind ; a bear carcass will toll a brother 

 bear to the ambushed hunter better than almost 

 any other bait, unless it is the carcass of a 

 horse. 



Nor do these big bears always content them- 

 selves merely with the carcasses of their 

 brethren. A black bear would have a poor 

 chance if in the clutches of a large, hungry 

 grisly ; and an old male will kill and eat a 

 cub, especially if he finds it at a disadvantage. 

 A rather remarkable instance of this occurred 

 in the Yellowstone National Park, in the spring 

 of 1891. The incident is related in the follow- 

 ing letter written to Mr. William Hallett 

 Phillips, of Washington, by another friend, 

 Mr. Elwood Hofer. Hofer is an old moun- 

 tain-man ; I have hunted with him myself, and 

 know his statements to be trustworthy. He 

 was, at the time, at work in the Park getting 

 animals for the National Museum at Washing- 

 ton, and was staying at Yancey's " hotel " 

 near Tower Falls. His letter which was dated 

 June 2ist, 1891, runs in part as follows : 



" I had a splendid Grizzly or Roachback 

 cub and was going to send him into the 

 Springs next morning the team was here, I 

 heard a racket outside went out and found 

 him dead an old bear that made an 91-2 



