The Bear Family. 119 



GRIZZLY BEAR. 



The largest of all Bears, the Grizzly (Ursus-horribilis), 

 is a native of western North America, where it ranges 

 from Mexico to Alaska. In the northern part of its range 

 it hibernates, but in the south it remains active all win- 

 ter. The Silver Tip, Barren Ground, Roachback, Cinna- 

 mon and Isabella are all varieties of the Grizzly; and its 

 differences of form are as marked as its wide range in 

 color; some of the species have a well-defined hump on 

 the back which is entirely wanting in others, and there 

 is also a wide variation in the width of the sole of the 

 hind feet, Accounts vary greatly as to the size and 

 weight of the Grizzly, but there is no doubt that this ani- 

 mal sometimes attains to thirteen feet in length, and 1,100 

 pounds in weight, but the average weight of a large male 

 Grizzly is nearer 800 pounds. 



The Grizzly feeds on flesh, nuts and acorns. It is a 

 poor climber, but has prodigious strength; one of the 

 species has been known to break the neck of a tall bison 

 with a single blow of its paw, and another to have car- 

 ried off over rough ground a male Wapiti weighing^ 

 over 1,000 pounds. Sir Samuel Baker says, "It will kill 

 several deer and leave them untouched on the ground at 

 daybreak the following morning." It is credited with 

 extreme ferocity towards man. 



BLACK BEAR. 



As the Grizzly is the largest so the Black Bear (Ursus- 

 americanus), is the smallest member of the American 

 Bear family. It seldom exceeds five feet in length, and 

 its fur is smoother, glossier and less shaggy than that of 

 either the Brown or Grizzly Bear. It is said by Col. E. 

 D. C. Alexander, that the Black Bear formerly frequented 

 "all the mountains, the thickets of the vast plains, and 

 every creek, river and bay bottom, from Labrador and 

 Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. At present its habitat is 

 confined to the mountains south of the St. Lawrence 

 River and the Great Lakes and east of the Mississippi 

 River, if we except the few that are still' found in the 

 dense thickets of the Colorado, Trinity and Brazos 

 Rivers." 



