MAMMALS OF NORTHEKN CANADA 221 



onist on his own grounds as his cousin, the true moun- 

 tain grizzly, is in his territory. The female is doubtless 

 less aggressive except when defending her young. Nearly 

 all these referred to were males. The Indians say that the 

 females give birth to one or two cubs every third year, and 

 that the young keep company and hibernate for two seasons in 

 the same shelter-hole or cave with their mother. The 

 paunches of the bears secured by us were mostly full of 

 various edible roots, and one or two contained some partially- 

 digested venison. Exclusive of a comparatively small num- 

 ber of skins shipped as trade returns of the post, I may 

 mention that the Smithsonian Institution received several 

 examples of the full-grown and some spring cubs of the male 

 and female of the Barren Ground bear. A. G. Dallas, Esq., 

 then resident governor-in-chief of the Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany, had a fine large mountable specimen sent to him by 

 request. A similar sample was also forwarded to Prince 

 Jerome Napoleon, of France. The former was secured in 

 1863 and the latter in 1864. I have not noticed any ref- 

 erence to the presence of this or the other species of bear on 

 the lands to the north of the American coast visited by the 

 different Arctic expeditions. 



Black Beae — Ursus americanus Pallas. 



The black bear is not at all common within the Arctic 

 portion of the Anderson River, but in the forest country to 

 the south on both sides of the valley it is fairly abundant 

 It subsists chiefly on roots, edible gTasses, berries, and green 

 leaves, and on stranded fish and dead animals when procur- 

 able. The Indians occasionally kill a male or female bear 

 which has neglected to hibernate, or for some unknovim 

 reason has left its winter shelter, and such examples are 

 generally in a more or less impoverished condition, while 

 many of the " winterers " are still quite fat as late as March 

 and April when shot or speared in their holes or caves. In 



