CHAPTER XXI. 



HUNTING THE GRIZZLY BEAR. 



>HE bear, like man, inhabits almost every 

 latitude and every land, and has 

 even been translated to the 

 starry heavens, where the 

 constellations of the Great 

 Dipper and the Little Dipper are 

 known to us as well as to the ancients as 

 Ursi Major and Minor. But North America 

 furnishes the largest and most aggressive species 

 in the grizzly (Ursus horribilis), the black (Ursus 

 americanus), and the polar (Ursus maritimus) 

 bears, and here the hunter finds his most daring 

 sport. Of all the known plantigrades (flat-footed 

 beasts) the grizzly is the most savage and the most 

 dreaded, and he is the largest of all, saving the 

 presence of his cousin the polar bear, for which, 

 nevertheless, he is more than a match in strength 

 and courage. Some specimens measure seven feet 

 from tip of nose to root of tail. The distinctive 

 marks of the species are its great size; the shortness 

 of the tail as compared with the ears; the huge flat 

 paws, the sole of the bind foot sometimes measur- 

 ing seven and a half by five inches in a large male; 

 the length of the hind legs as compared with the 

 fore legs, which gives the beast his awkward, sham- 

 bling gait; the long claws of the fore foot, sometimes 

 seven inches in length, while those of the hind foot 



(164) 



