The Grizzly Bear 365 



we killed on the mountains would, I should think, have 

 been able to make short work of a lion or a tiger." At 

 the same time he remarks that either of the latter " would 

 be fully as dangerous to a hunter or other human being, 

 on account of the superior speed of its charge, the 

 lightning-like rapidity of its movements, and its apparently 

 sharper senses." The fact of an animal's antagonist being 

 a man has evidently no relation to the question of relative 

 prowess. Those advantages attributed to Felida must of 

 course tell in conflict with any animal proportionately to the 

 degree in which they exceeded like traits upon the part of 

 an adversary. Cougars greatly excel the grizzly bear in 

 those qualities mentioned, but how far they might coun- 

 terbalance its great superiority in strength is another 

 matter. 



Nearly all that has been said of the subject of this sketch 

 relates to his behavior towards human beings. Records 

 of that character are not wanting, and it should be possible 

 to give a correct idea of the grizzly as he appears in 

 literature without overloading the text with quotations. 

 Those traits to be considered in this connection are cour- 

 age, ferocity, aggressiveness, and tenacity of life, all of which 

 are represented very differently, according as the writers 

 describe them from hearsay or personal observation, and 

 as they refer to animals existing in dissimilar times and 

 places, with or without reference to the fact that this is a 

 creature which has undergone much modification under 

 unlike conditions of existence. No one can delineate the 

 features of this species in its entirety, but most persons 

 attempt to do so, and their accounts are liable to the same 



