^66 THROUGH CANADA 



Canadian big game. Its propensity for wandering 

 makes it difficult to locate. It is so cosmopolitan in 

 this particular, that its discovery anywhere and 

 everywhere is no matter for surprise. Bears are 

 found in the very heart of the Rocky Mountains, far 

 removed from all human haunts, and in the orchards 

 close to outlying towns, in the lonely canon of a 

 Fraser tributary clawing out salmon, and in the 

 shack munching the trapper's dinner. The only 

 time when the black bear seems to rest is when 

 hibernating. Once on the move he wanders far and 

 wide. The male is larger than the female, about 

 3 feet high, and weighing 600 lb. to 700 lb. They 

 mate in July and August, and about February go 

 abroad with their cubs, generally two in number. 

 The latter play like kittens, and reach adolescence in 

 three years. Their whole life covers a period of 

 about twenty years. The food of bears is varied. 

 Hard up, they will eat anything, and run the risk of 

 their lives to obtain it. Their staple food consists 

 of the bark of trees, which is the first form of diet that 

 they patronize after their long winter's sleep. They 

 lie down very fat, curl up, and putting their toes in 

 their mouths, subsist on the store of fat with which 

 their ribs are lined. 



On awaking they are thin and hungry, and some 

 of the bark they take is supposed to possess 

 medicinal properties adapted to their needs. In the 

 forest the freshly stripped tree trunks bear witness to 



