MAMMALS. 95 



berry {ArctostapJnilos iira-itrsi). which occurs in carpets over the 

 ground and is usually loaded with dry, mealy berries, is extensively 

 eaten, but the favorite food of the bears is the serviceberry {Amelan- 

 chwr alnifolia). which is especially abundant and prolific on the west 

 slope. Some berries of the mountain ash were sought for, but these 

 were onljr beginning to ripen the last of August. Thorn apples 

 {Cixitxpgus douglasi) furnish an abundance of sweet, purple fruit on 

 the west slope, and raspberries, thimbleberries, currants, and goose- 

 berries all contribute to the summer food. 



Great numbers of the burrows of the little, fat ground squirrels 

 (Citellus coltunhianus) are excavated bj^ bears, and apparently the 

 occupants contribute an important article of food. A few of these 

 burrows are dug out during the summer, but probably more of them 

 late in fall after the squirrels have become very fat and hibernated 

 and after other bear food has become scarce. In the vicinity of 

 Granite Park I found dozens of these burrows that had been torn 

 open through the tough sod and stones, and even small trees were 

 thrown out in getting to the bottom of the burrow, where, 2 or 3 

 feet down, the soft grassy nest had been reached and its remains left 

 scattered about. As the squirrels hibernate at least a month before 

 the bears do, they evidently are a great help in enabling the bears to 

 lay in sufficient fat for their winter's store. 



There is no evidence that the bears molest any large game, and 

 the scouts and old hunters and trappers say that they do not. As 

 they are great scavengers, and quickly locate dead animals, they are 

 trapped mainly by the use of meat bait. In this way great numbers 

 of game animals have been destroyed by trappers for bear bait, and 

 as late as June 22 I have found bear traps baited with freshly killed 

 deer and goats. Moose and elk have also suifered severely in this 

 way before the Glacier Park Avas created and put under proper 

 suiDervision. 



As the establishment of Glacier Park was comparatively recent, the 

 bears have not yet gathered about hotel and camp garbage piles as they 

 do in Yellowstone Park, but they will soon learn, and under proper 

 management of the garbage they can be made a perfectly safe and 

 very attractive feature of the animal life of the park. A place for 

 the garbage might be selected in the open, close to the edge of the 

 woods, but where the bears can be plainly seen and readily photo- 

 grajohed, and where no one would accidentally come upon them un- 

 noticed at very close quarters ; then a tourist-proof fence could be 

 erected in a semicircle at a safe distance around the open side of the 

 garbage. This would not only allow the bears to have some peace 

 and quiet in which to enjoy their meals and enable the visitors to 

 watch them at reasonably close range, but would prevent interference 

 with the bears by the few foolhardy visitors who do not realiza that 



