Fact versus Fiction 



259 



tinct acts of lying and "stuffing the tenderfoot." When 

 a man can neither read nor write, and lives most of his life 

 alone on fresh venison and flapjacks, he is entitled to 

 some amusement. 



One of the most widely disseminated legends about 

 the grizzly is the alleged fact that they bite and scratch 

 trees as a sort of challenge to would-be rivals. It has 

 even been asserted that these marks are purposely made 

 and duly heeded as a sort of "warning against trespassers," 

 and mark the limits of the range claimed by the bear that 

 makes them. The laws that govern the matter have al- 

 most been codified. We are told that the grizzly that 

 posts one of these notices holds a good title to the posted 

 territory until another bear comes along that can put his 

 own mark above it. That the bear with the longest reach 

 is "boss" of that ward. We are told how an ambitious 

 young grizzly on the lookout for a location will wander 

 from one part of the hills to another, measuring up the 

 various marks, until he finds one that he can overtop by 

 an inch or so, when he puts his sign-manual above it and 

 enters then and there into possession while the old owner 

 slinks off to look for a new job. 



One writer has even told of an especially clever but 

 dishonest young bear that rolled a stump up to the notice 

 tree, and by standing on it placed his mark so far out of 

 reach of ordinary property owners that it struck terror 

 to a whole neighborhood. 



Now there is just one grain of truth in this entire mass 

 of imagination — grizzlies do, occasionally, bite chunks 

 out of trees. Why they do it the Lord that made them 

 may know, but I am certain that no one else does; and. 



