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BIG GAME SHOOTING 



(Ursus maritimus). My correspondent adds that 'a lot of 

 varieties and sub-species have been made, but not upon any 

 certain characters.' Among these varieties and sub-species 

 may, I suppose, be reckoned Ursus Richardsonii, the Alaskan 

 grizzly, as 'well as a whole host of bears, best known to 

 Western trappers as cinnamon bears, silver-tips, roach-backs, 

 bald-faces, and range bears. 



Luckily for me, the question of species is one for naturalists 

 rather than for sportsmen to decide ; the claim to rank as a 



Dead grizzly 



distinct species appearing to rest rather upon a beast's anatomy 

 than upon his outward appearance and manner of life. 



Having studied bears with some care and under favourable 

 circumstances in more than, one portion of the globe, I incline 

 to the belief that the different species cross almost as freely as 

 do different breeds of dogs ; and certainly it seems probable 

 that upon the North American continent all the different 

 varieties owe their origin to the grizzly or the black, or to 

 a union between the two. In this view I am supported by 



