808 AUDUBON THE NATURALIST. 



" The different colours of the pelage of this 

 animal, but for the "uniformity of its extraor- 

 dinary claws, would puzzle any one not ac- 

 quainted with its form, for it varies from jet 

 black in the young of the first and second win- 

 ter to the hoary gray of age, or of summer." 



In Townsend's " Narrative of a Journey aci'oss 

 the Kocky Mountains to the Columbia Eiver, 

 etc.," we find two adventures with the grizzly 

 bear. The first is as follows : The partj^ were 

 on Black Foot river, a small, stagnant stream 

 which runs in a northwesterly direction down a 

 valley covered with quagmires, through which 

 they had great difficulty in making their way. 

 "As we approached our encampment, near a 

 small grove of willows on the margin of the 

 river, a tremendous grizzly bear rushed out up- 

 on us. Our horees ran wildly in every direc- 

 tion, snorting with terror, and became nearly 

 unmanageable. Several balls were instantly 

 fired into him, but they only seemed to increase 

 his fury. After spending a moment in rending 

 each wound, (their invariable practice,) he select- 

 ed the person who happened to be nearest, and 

 darted after him, but before he proceeded far he 

 was sure to be stopped again by a ball from 

 another quarter. In this way he was driven 

 about amongst us for perhaps fifteen minutes, 

 at times so near some of the horses that he 



