and clean. These facts lead me "to think that 

 bears do not eat just before hibernating. 



Nor do they at once eat heartily on emerg- 

 ing. The instances in which I was able to watch 

 them for the first few days after they emerged 

 from winter quarters showed each time almost 

 a fast. Those observed ate only a few ounces 

 of food during the four or five days immediately 

 after emerging. Each drank a little water. The 

 first thing each ate was a few willow-twigs. 

 Apparently they do not eat heartily until a 

 number of days elapse. 



On one occasion I carefully watched a grizzly 

 for six days after he emerged from his hibernat- 

 ing-cave. His winter quarters were at timber- 

 line on Battle Mountain, at an altitude of nearly 

 twelve thousand feet. The winter had been of 

 average temperature but scanty snow-fall. I 

 saw him, by chance, just as he was emerging. 

 It was the first day of March. I watched him 

 with a field-glass. He walked about aimlessly 

 for an hour or more, then returned to his sleep- 

 ing-place without eating or drinking anything. 



The following morning he came forth and 

 203 



