NORTH AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES 139 



Originally believed to be a species distinct from the black 

 bear and characterized as clear creamy white to the roots of 

 the hairs, further specimens of this bear from the type locality 

 show that this coloring is not constant but skins may have the 

 top of the head "yellowish rufous, with the back . . . con- 

 spicuously varied with bands and irregular patches of bright 

 golden rufous" (J. A. Allen, 1909). The skull presents dis- 

 tinctive characters that warrant its recognition as "a strongly 

 marked form"; however, according to Hall (1928), the latest 

 writer to consider its status, it is best regarded as a local race 

 of the black bear. The known range extends "from the lower 

 part of South Bentinck Arm, Bella Coola River (lat. 52), and 

 from Aristazable, Princess Royal, Gribble, and Pitt Islands, on 

 the coast, to a considerable distance into the interior" of 

 British Columbia. A list of specimens and localities up to 

 1909 is given in the paper of J. A. Allen (1909). 



Because of its circumscribed range, and its relative con- 

 spicuousness, it might be thought that this type of bear would 

 be a special object of pursuit and thus be in danger of early 

 extermination. However, I. M. Cowan, in a verbal communi- 

 cation to Dr. Francis Harper in 1937, regards it for the present 

 as "safe enough." It may be thought of as a geographical 

 race of the black bear, with in some cases a white color phase. 



THE GRIZZLY BEARS 



In the early settlement of western North America, the 

 grizzly bear was about the only really dangerous carnivore to 

 be found; its size and strength as well as its rather truculent 

 nature combined to make it a formidable beast against which 

 the rifles of earlier days were often ineffective, and many a 

 hunter has owed his life to the fact that the grizzly is too large 

 and heavy to climb a tree that afforded the hunter a refuge. 

 Because of these traits and its uncertain temper, as well as on 

 account of its depredations among the rancher's cattle and 

 sheep, the grizzly bear has been persistently hunted and killed 

 wherever possible for upward of a century, with the result 

 that at the present day it has been largely exterminated over a 

 great part of the former range. 



Merriam (1896) in his preliminary review of the North 

 American bears wrote: "The Grizzly bears (including the 



