THE GRIZZLY BEAR. 215 



hidden jaws lie beneath the innocent brown pine-needles 

 and bunch-grass. They will spring it again and again, and 

 then feast to their heart' s content. One great fellow did 

 this three times at the same carcass, and, as we conld not 

 induce him to come during daylight, we had reluctantly to 

 give him up. After carefully examining the jaws of the 

 trap, which each time held a few gray, coarse hairs and 

 such small traces of skin as you see on a horse's curry-comb, 

 we came to the conclusion — and I think, the correct one — 

 that the old fellow deliberately sat down on the whole 

 concern. 



My first G-rizzly was trapped on the head- waters of the 

 east fork of the Yellowstone, within some few miles of a 

 mountain called the Hoodoo. That country is now too 

 well known and too much hunted to afford good sport; a 

 blazed trail leads up to it from the Park. Travelers who 

 want to see an Elk are almost invariably advised to go up 

 there. It is a sort of jumping-off place. None of the Park 

 guides (I think I am correct in saying) know how to get out 

 @f it unless by returning as they came — at least they did 

 not two or three years ago. In 1883 there was considerably 

 more game in that region than can be found there now. Our 

 party; the morning after getting into camp, separated; I went 

 for Sheep on the high -ground, for there was plenty of sign, 

 and' my friend, taking an Adirondack guide we had with us, 

 hunted the lower woody slopes. Toward evening I got back 

 to camp, pretty well tired, having killed a ewe, for we 

 wanted meat; and presently the rest of the party came in, 

 almost too breathless to speak. They had seen a drove of 

 Bears, so they said — five of them — "and," added the Adi- 

 rondack guide, "two were big as Buffaloes." He had never 

 seen a Buffalo, and drew on his imagination for their size. 

 This was exciting with a vengeance. They reported any 

 amount of Bear-sign on the slopes leading to the river. It 

 was just before dark that they had seen the aforesaid family, 

 which, unfortunately, at once winded them, and so quickly 

 tumbled down the ravine, as only Bears can tumble, and 

 were lost in the canon. We were poorly off for bait, but 



