OLD EPHRAIM, THE GRISLY 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 9 1-2 



