BIG GAME OF NORTH AMERICA 357 



walks. If at this time the weather looks unpropitious, both 

 bears not infrequently come to the conclusion that it is not yet 

 time to get up, and therefore turn in for one more nap. 



In early April (that is, on first leaving their dens) both Ursus 

 americanus and Ursus horribilis frequent the river bottoms to 

 feed upon the rank herbage which grows there ; and a little later 

 find food very much to their taste in the young mountain grass 

 which springs wherever the snow leaves the hill-sides bare. 



It is in April that the hunter gets some of his best chances 

 at bear, for if he be lucky enough to find one of the earliest of 

 these mountain pastures, and patient enough to watch it for a 

 few days, he is almost certain of his reward. 



At this time, too, a bear is worth killing, for his hide is at 

 its very best when he leaves his winter quarters, though it de- 

 teriorates very rapidly as summer advances. 



Towards the end of April (in an average year) when the 

 bear has purged his system with a diet of mountain grasses, 

 Nature provides him with somewhat stronger food, in the buds 

 of the olali bushes (service berry, &c.), in the roots of the wild 

 parsnip, and a little later in the catkins which come upon the 

 willows. Later still (in May), when the woods begin to swarm 

 with ticks and other insects, the bears follow the snow in its 

 retreat to the high places, finding at its very edge great patches 

 of golden lilies (Erythronium giga?iteuni) and the small pinkish 

 blossom of Claytonia carolineana (Indian potato), both blossoms 

 springing from bulbs of which bears are as fond as the Indians, 

 with whose women folk the former not seldom clash in their 

 morning operations in these wild potato fields. 



But to find the bear feeding either upon bulbs or grasses, 

 or any stronger meat, the hunter must be out early and up late, 

 for bears are reasonable beings, rarely if ever feeding grossly 

 at midday, but breakfasting at dawn and dining after dark. 



Indeed, bears are more or less nocturnal in their habits, and 

 this is especially true of grizzlies, who, when much hunted, be- 

 come purely nocturnal in their feeding and in their wanderings. 



I know a country (the name of it I prefer to keep to myself 



