THE BROWN BEAR 



distance north and south, the Sitka bear {U. a. sitkensis) of Sitka and Baranoff 

 Islands, the Admiralty bear {U. a. eulophus) of Admiralty Island, and Kidder's 

 bear {U. a. kidderi) of the Alaskan Peninsula. All these are, however, so similar to 

 one another, that it requires an expert to distinguish them. 



The grisly bear {U. horribilis) is, however, a distinct species, characterised, 

 among other features, by its white claws. Typically a native of the high forests of 

 the Rocky Mountains, the grisly is represented by two Alaskan races, namely, U. h. 

 phceonyx of the interior, and U. h. kenaiensis of the Kenai Peninsula and adjacent 

 coasts. It perhaps reappears in the Tian Shan range, in the heart of central Asia, 

 in the shape of the so-called U. leticonyx. 



Bears are the least carnivorous of the Carnivora, subsisting in many districts 

 almost entirely on fruits, nuts, shoots of trees, roots, honey, and ants, with an 

 occasional meal of carrion. In Alaska, however, when the bears wake up from their 

 winter sleep and come abroad they find the rivers almost choked with Pacific salmon 

 which are ascending to spawn, and in these they find an abundant and nourishing 

 food-supply upon which they rapidly grow fat. The duration of the winter-sleep, 

 which may take place in a hollow tree, a cavern, or a cleft in the rocks, depends 

 upon the length of the winter ; and it is when they first issue forth from these lairs 

 that bears are in their best coats, the summer fur being short and comparatively 

 valueless, while the skins are also difficult to preserve owing to the fatness of the 

 animals at this season. The females bring forth their cubs, one or two in number, 

 during the period of hibernation. 



Bears are to a great extent diurnal mammals, whose haunts are chiefly the 

 forests, although in late summer they resort in many localities, such as Kashmir, to 

 the open mountain pastures, where they may be seen grazing at no great distance 

 from flocks of sheep or goats. The adults go about singly or in pairs, the females 

 generally accompanied by their cubs, which may include those of two successive 

 seasons. 



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