354 BIG GAME SHOOTING 
flat behind the eyes ; the whole expression of the head being 
as unmistakably pugnacious and dangerous as the expression 
of the long shallow head of the black bear is weak and inoffen- 
sive. As most people are aware, naturalists rely for purposes 
of identification more upon the shape of a bear’s skull than 
upon any external characteristics, and for that reason I have 
inserted here an engraving from a photograph of two skulls 
placed side by side, the larger one being that of a medium- 
sized grizzly bitch (or sow) from Alaska, the other that of a 
very large black bear (male) from British Columbia. 
As far as the general expression of the beast goes, it seems — 
Black bear Grizzly bear ° 
to me that that is no better guide than his colour, for even © 
amongst grizzlies I have in one trip come across one specimen © 
with a head as full of vice as a viper’s, and another as mild as © 
a Chinese cook’s. It is true that the sexes differed ; the mild 
face naturally belonging to the lady. 
As to the claws again, the typical Californian grizzly should” 
have extremely long flat claws of a bony whiteness—claws | 
obviously meant for digging and not for climbing ; while the 
genuine black bear should have claws to climb and fish with 3 
sharply curved, small and dark coloured. 
But here again the characteristics are not constant. The 
Alaskan grizzly (if it is a true grizzly) has claws far toe 
