326 THE WILDERNESS OF THE UPPER YUKON 



calves. Twin calves remain together a year or more 

 after they leave the mother. The bulls shed their horns 

 from the middle of December to the middle of January. 

 Moose are wary, after their kind, whether much hunted 

 or not, but the bulls, during the early rut, come to the 

 call of the birch-bark horn, or the scraping of a bone on 

 a tree in imitation of a rival scraping his horns, and often 

 to any unusual noise like the blows of an axe. Like 

 caribou and bears, they desert settled districts, quite un- 

 like sheep, which remain on their ranges almost to the 

 point of extermination. 



BEARS 



The grizzly bear dwells among mountains rising well 

 above timber-line and exists all over Yukon Territory. 

 Except when it comes to the rivers for salmon, it roams 

 near and above timber-line. It is most abundant west 

 of the Lewes River, and north along the dry belt inside 

 of the coast range. It is abundant in the Ogilvies, 

 Selwyns, and Pellys. It never exists in large numbers 

 anywhere. It hibernates, according to season, in Octo- 

 ber or November, and comes forth in May, when it 

 immediately begins to eat the roots of the wild pea vine, 

 and soon after digs mice and ground-squirrels. When 

 the salmon begin to run up the rivers, the grizzlies begin 

 to feed exclusively on them. Bears do not hunt moose, 

 caribou, or sheep, though they will feed on a dead car- 

 cass. The females have from one to three cubs which 

 remain with the mother for two years. Everywhere, the 

 grizzly is wild and timid and flees from man. 



