IV THE BIG GAME OF ALASKA 49 



the officials who accompanied me, was enabled to take notes 

 of the relative sizes and weights of the bears in the different 

 cages. On the cage containing the largest brown bear is a 

 board bearing the following inscription : — 



Kodiak Bear. — Caught May 24, 1901, near Cape Douglas. Received 

 at Zoological Park, Jan. 9, 1902. 

 Weight when caught about 2 months old, 18 lbs. 

 Weight, Jan. 17, 1902, 180 lbs. 

 Weight, June 15, 1903, 450 lbs. 



This beast looks enormous. We induced him to stand 

 on his hind legs, and I am certain that his head must have 

 been at least 8 feet above the ground when he was standing 

 in that manner. Owing to his magnificent coat I should 

 have guessed his weight at fully 800 lbs., but probably this 

 was over the mark, as I doubt if he had put on 350 lbs. in five 

 months. This bear will easily outstrip the largest grizzly in 

 the park ere long, although some of the latter are a great age 

 and consequently very heavy. The greatest weight attained 

 by any grizzly there is about 950 lbs., as nearly as I could 

 make out from the official list. 



The curious part of this affair is that this brown bear is 

 obviously misnamed by the authorities of the Zoo, since it 

 was caught on the mainland near Cape Douglas, and is not 

 therefore Ursus middendorffi. at all, but either U. kidderi or 

 U. dalli gyas. It is impossible to say to which of the latter 

 two forms it belongs without an examination of its teeth, 

 and for my own part I had no wish to take on a job of 

 that kind. I have seen and killed these brown bears in 

 various colours, from a dark brown to a very light fawn or 

 cream colour. 



The black bear, Ursus americanus, is plentiful all along 

 the Alaskan coast, from the south up to a point on the Alaska 



