NORTH AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES 143 



and vegetable matter. In early times they preyed partly upon 

 the larger game and animals, such as deer, wapiti, or, on the 

 plains country, the bison, and later found an easier prey in the 

 introduced livestock of the settlers. In the Southwest, Bailey 

 mentions their fondness for acorns, pinyons, cedar berries, 

 various succulent roots, the sweet mesquite berries, bulbs, and 

 tubers of various kinds. They also turn over logs and stones 

 for the insects to be found underneath. In more northern 

 parts of the range they dig out the burrows of small rodents, 

 especially of ground squirrels, for their occupants. Fish too are 

 very much relished, and when salmon are running in the 

 Alaskan waters the grizzlies and brown bears feast upon them, 

 wading in and scooping out the fish. 



The grizzly bear hibernates in the northern part of its range 

 from late September to April, more or less, seeking a shelter 

 among rock crevices or in the hollow base of a large tree or 

 under its upturned roots. In the southern latitudes, as in New 

 Mexico, however, Bailey says that hibernation is less regular, 

 and the bears may be found active at various times in winter. 

 The young are born in these winter dens and may be two or 

 three in number, more commonly twins. 



In various papers Vernon Bailey has much to say concerning 

 the grizzly's former range and abundance. In his "Mammals 

 of North Dakota" (1926) he presents a number of early records 

 of its occurrence along the eastern border of its range here. 

 "At the coming of the white man these large grizzlies were 

 apparently common over practically all of North Dakota." 

 Alexander Henry while in the Red River Valley in 1800 found 

 them not so numerous as in the Hair Hills and Devils Lake 

 region, where they were said to be "very malicious." He also 

 reported one skin in the catch from the Sandhill River, Minn., 

 in 1807, and one from Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, localities 

 from near the limit of its eastward range. In 1833, Maxi- 

 milian found them more common the farther up the Missouri 

 he went. Generally bears were found feeding here on buffalo 

 carcasses, which were often plentifully distributed in the quick- 

 sands or along the river banks by floods and breaking ice. "Ap- 

 parently the Missouri River Valley with its great abundance 

 and variety of large game, wild fruit, and berries, bulbs, tubers, 

 roots, and underground beans, was a paradise for these bears 

 before the days of the rifle." Here, too, Audubon, in 1843, 



