356- Wild Beasts 



rience has not prepared him to meet, and where the animal 

 acts well or ill, successfully or unsuccessfully, according to 

 his individual capacity. 



John D. Godman (" American Natural History") calls 

 it "savage and solitary." All the more powerful beasts of 

 prey might be similarly characterized. The influence of 

 organization, inherited tendencies, and their daily life, in- 

 dispose creatures of this kind towards association. More- 

 over, they are most generally rivals in their usual habitats, 

 both as hunters and as suitors during the pairing season. 

 We have no accounts, like those given of lions and tigers, 

 to show how males behave toward each other under the 

 antagonisms implied in contact, but everything points 

 towards conflict. Still, as there are conditions which 

 bring the former together in certain localities, so grizzlies 

 sometimes congregate. Mollhausen (" Diary of a Journey 

 from the Mississippi to the Pacific ") reports that at Mount 

 Sitgreaves, and in its surrounding eminences, their dens 

 were so numerous that Leroux (a famous guide and hunter 

 of those days) had never seen the same " numbers living 

 together in so small a space." They had all gone when 

 MoUhausen's party was there, owing to the freezing of 

 waters in that vicinity. Those pliaces where they had 

 tried to break the ice were often found, and many trails 

 well marked in snow showed that the bears had "made 

 their journey to the south in troops of eight or more," 

 each detachment going in single file. 



Nevertheless, "Old Ephraim," as mountain men call' 

 him, having inspired all who ever penetrated into his 

 haunts with a wholesome respect, has naturally been 



