MORE ABOUT BEARS IN THE ROCKIES 249 



another case of a black bear sow with one-year-old grizzly cubs, 

 shaped differently from the mother, and unmistakably owing 

 both their shape and colour to the parentage of the male grizzly. 

 These unions would produce the much smaller bears so often 

 met with the small brown and cinnamon which never seem 

 to become much bigger than the black bear. Of these I saw 

 three examples last spring, evidently full grown ; indeed one, 

 the cinnamon, had two cubs. 



Turner Turner " Three Years' Hunting in the Great North- 

 West " however, believes that the cause of bears in some 

 districts so far exceeding in size similar species from other 

 parts of the same country is greatly due to climate and 

 facilities of obtaining food. The huge bears of California 

 probably never hibernate at all, feeding steadily the whole year 

 round, while the comparatively diminutive ones of the North- 

 West can only rely upon satisfying their appetites for three 

 or four months in the year, actually spending five to seven 

 months in a torpid state without any food whatever. 



The big bears, silver-tip and brown grizzlies, frequent the 

 higher regions, and probably, as my hunter said, as a rule breed 

 among themselves, while the smaller cinnamon and black and 

 brown ones roam among the brush and forest of the lower ranges, 

 and no doubt do their best to avoid any dangerous familiarity on 

 the part of their bigger brethren. In our valley the beautiful 

 silver-tips far outnumbered the brown and grey bears, as they 

 exceeded them greatly in size. 



In his "Wilderness Hunter" Roosevelt divides bears into 

 those which have long, straight claws and those with short, curved 

 ones, a much better means of distinction than size or colour. 



