182 WAITING IN THE WILDERNESS 



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tramping the woods together, after cubs separate 

 they are not likely to meet again, or if they do 

 meet as grown bears they are not likely to pay 

 friendly attention to one another. 



A grizzly, except a mother while with cubs, 

 lives alone. Whether a cub simply wanders until 

 he finds an unclaimed territory that he likes, or 

 whether his mother sometimes selects his future 

 home for him, is not known. But usually by the 

 time a bear is three years old he has settled in some 

 section. In this he lives alone, and in it, too, 

 he dens up hibernates alone during the win- 

 ter. Rarely does he leave his chosen locality, 

 and then commonly for a short time only. A 

 bear ever objects to another bear of the same 

 species intruding on his claimed territory. So 

 when a bear is away from home he is likely to 

 keep on the move. 



It is not known when or where these three 

 loyal cub explorers finally parted. It may have 

 been at the close of their second jolly summer 

 when time to den up, or it may have been the 

 spring following when they came forth from the 

 den. After all their rambles, swims, feasts, 

 and adventures together they separated. I wish 

 I might have seen them at the time they 

 parted for ever. 



