818 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Dec. 16, 1898. 



SPECIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BEARS. 



For three-quarters of a centixry the question of how 

 many species of bears are peculiar to North America has 

 been a problem to zoologists and a puzzle to all others 

 interested in the pursuit of these noble objects of the 

 hunter's ambition. Leaving out of consideration any 

 questions but those affecting the relationship of our bears, 

 among themselves, the disputed points are really three in 

 number: First, is the large grizzly of the Pacific coast to 

 be separated from those of the Rocky :\iountains? second, 

 what is the "cinnamon" bear? ami tl ird, what is the 

 "barren ground bear?" The uncertainty as to the third 

 point is easily explained by the meager description given 

 by Richardson in the "Fa,una Boreali Americana," Nor 

 is it a long chase from condition to cause, through the 

 confusion which has surrounded the first and second, in 

 view of the great variability of these animals in size and 

 color. It is comparatively of late years only that natural- 

 ists have gone beyond external appearance for their 

 specific characters," and during the period since anatom- 

 ical structure began to be considered, it has hardly been 

 felt safe, by cautious systematists, to base generaliza- 

 tions on the fragmentary collections of our natural his- 

 tory museums, unattended, as a large part of tlie speci- 

 mens ai'e, by any exact data as to the accompanying 

 conditions of claw, coat, skeleton and locality. 



Within a few months specimens have come into my 

 hands and, by a coincidence, about the same time similar 

 material has come into the possession of Pi'of. E. D. 

 Cope, which seems to settle the identity of the "cinna- 

 mon," at least. As to the grizzly — what I shall say here 

 exprpsses only my own judgment for future exami- 

 nation of larger series of specimens, in connection with 

 all desirable information regarding them, may possibly 

 cause a revision of this species, but I venture the belief 

 that the views here set down will not be materially 

 changed. 



In searching among bears for the most reliable specific 

 characters, it has been found best to rely on certain 

 features presented by the skull. In a general way, these 

 are the proportion borne by the extreme breadth, across 

 the zygomatic arches, to the extreme length from the 

 pre-maxillaries to the posterior end of the occipital 

 condyle, measured along the under surface; the propor 

 tion of the length of the hinder molar in the upper jaw 

 to the length of the skull; and the contour line of the 

 upper surface of the cranium from front to back — whether 

 it is convex over the forehead, when looked at from one 

 side, or what degree of concavity it presents. There are 

 also more or less variable arrangements of the cusps of 

 the teeth, but these are highly technical and it is not 

 necessary to take them into consideration here. 



Now,, first as to the grizzly. The earliest description of 

 this bear, accompanied by a scientific name, was that of 

 Ord in 1815, as Ursus horribilis, based upon the specimens 

 collected by the Lewis and Clarke expedition in 1804-6 

 on the upper Missouri River above the mouth of the Yel- 

 lowstone. He was followed in 1823 by Say, who adopted 

 Ord's name for the bears collected by Long's expedition 

 in 1820 near the head of the Arkansas River in Colorado. 

 In 1831 Richardson based the name ?7m<s/ero.7; on these 

 two descriptions and on a young male killed on the Sas- 

 katchewan by the Franklin expedition, of which he was 

 naturalist. With one exception, which will be again 

 referred to, all the designations which were subsequently 

 applied to the grizzly were founded on these earlier des- 

 criptions; they contain nothing new and have no title to 

 consideration. What we have, therefore, to do is to com- 

 pare our specimens with Ord's account and with each 

 other, in the light of such facts as have been learned 

 since his time, to find out whether there is one or more 

 species of grizzly. 



The measurements which will be given here for the 

 j)urpose of comiiarison, are taken from a small number of 

 skulls in my own possession, but do not differ much from 

 the average of a much larger series. These show the skull 

 of the Rocky Mountain grizzly to have an average length 

 of 13.44in., with a breadth of 7.67in., or taking the length 

 as 1,000 the proportion of breadth is .570. Tlie grizzly is 

 a narrow-headed bear, with the profile of forehead slightly 

 concave — a slight "stop," as it were, in front of the eye. 

 The teeth in this bear are very large, the hinder upper 

 molar being especially so, when compared with the 

 black bear, or with the brown species {Ursus arctos) ot 

 Europe and Asia, the proportion of its length to that of 

 the skull being about .107. 



Throughout the Rocky Mountains the so-called "silver- 

 tip" and the "cinnamon" of hunters are regarded as dif- 

 ferent species, and the great grizzlies of ihe Pacific Coast 

 are commonly looked on as still another. With reference 

 to the two former, it will help clear the matter to say Iiere 

 that the bear called "cinnamon" by hmiters, whether or 

 not it be distinct, is of the grizzly typo and is a very dif- 

 ferent animal from that to whicli naturalists give the 

 same name; this bear is externally, much more like the 

 black and will be taken up further on. 



I have before me now the skuUs of two grizzlies, with 

 whose obsequies I was somewhat associated, which serve 

 admirably for comparison, each having been an excel- 

 lent specimen of tlie supposed form which it represents; 

 the one being an old male "cinnamon," killed on one of the 

 heads of the White River in Colorado; the other being an 

 adult female "silver tip" killed some years later, 50 miles 

 or so to the northward. These skulls do not show a sin- 

 gle character separating the two forms. The cinnamon 

 is 13.75in. long and 7.75in, wide, a jH-oportion of .564; 

 with a hinder upper molar 1.4in. long, or a proportion of 

 .108 of the length of skull. The female is 13in. long and 

 7.75in. wide, a proportion of .597; the binder molar being 

 l,5in., a proportion of .109. A skull of an old male from 

 CaUfornia, in the collection of the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences, gives: length 14.35in., breadtii S.33in,, propor- 

 tion .584; length of hinder molar 1.5in., proportion .105. 

 The range of variation in the proportions of five other 

 skulls taken at random, being Irom a maximum of .610 

 to a minimum of .510, it will be seenhow insignificant the 

 variation is in these three skulls, representing silver-tip, 

 cinnamon and California bears. 



In 1859, in the reports of the Mexican Boundary Sur- 

 vey, Baird described specimens collected in Arizona, 

 under the name of Ursus horribilis var. horrioius. I do 

 not see any distinction whatever between these hears and 

 the^most ooniroon form of the grigzlj found in that 



southern region, and in fact they are not now regarded 

 as distinct. 



It has again, been said that the bears found in the region 

 where the Lewis and Clarke specimens were procured, 

 bear a resemblance to those from the Pacific Coast moun- 

 tains. This may well be true; matter in motion, whether 

 it be in the form of water or of grizzly bears, finds out 

 the lines of least resistance, and a species from the west 

 of the mountains, working its way eastward, would find 

 its natural path up the vaUey of the Columbia and the 

 Snake rivers into Idaho and Montana, but personally I do 

 not believe that any of these skulls will show^ peculiarities 

 which are constant and not dependent upon size and 

 powerful development. Size, however, unaccompanied 

 by other fixed points of difference, is not a sound specific 

 character, and in any event, while it is probably ti-ue 

 that the average size of bears from the Sierra Nevadas is 

 greater than that of those from the Rockies, it is also 

 certain that in the latter they sometimes reach enormous 

 bulk. I have now in memory, days and nights spent in 

 wa,tching for a grizzly whose well known track covered 

 quite as much of his native soil as would that of any 

 California specimen w^hich I have ever seen, and that was 

 in a Rocky Mountain region which shall be nameless, 

 for while as yet I have never seen this bear in the flesh, 

 he is still alive, and in hopeful moments I have imagin- 

 ings of a time when my eye may rest upon him — through 

 the sights of my .45-125. 



Size is, furthermore, quite as variable with these ani- 

 mals as any character can be, and thereon I am about to 

 state conclusions, which will certainly be scorned hj 

 those fortunate followers of Nimi-od who slay 1,500 or 

 l,0001bs. grizzlies. It is a curious fact In the geograph- 

 ical distribution of animals — for which an explanation 

 might be sought among ethical rather than physical 

 causes — that l,0001bs. bears are not found inhabiting the 

 same range of country as Fairbank's scales. I have seen 

 but one grizzly actually weighed, and that was a male 

 which died in the Philadelphia Zoological Garden in 1881; 

 a larger and finer specimen than the average, and which 

 weighed a trifle under SOOlbs. 



By far the largest of these bears that I have seen were 

 one from the Sierra Nevadas, known as "Sampson," who 

 with his owner, old "Grizzly Adams," was the delight of 

 my schoolboy holidays, thirty years ago, in Barnum's 

 Museum a,t Broadway and Ann street, New York, and 

 the male of a pair now in the Cincinnati Zoological Gar- 

 den, which, I am informed by Mr. Stephan, the superin- 

 tendent, were captured in San Joaquin county, California, 

 in 1871. Quite recentlj^ this bear was under discussion 

 between Mr. F. J. Thompson, the former superintendent 

 of the Cincinnati Garden, and myself, and we independ- 

 ently estimated his weight at SOOlbs. 1 am disposed to 

 believe that he is quite as large as "Sampson." Not in- 

 frequently bears are olJered to me for sale, by parties in 

 the West, w-eighing 1,200 or more pounds. In such cases 

 I always offer a sliding scale of prices, so much a pound 

 up to 6001bs. and an increased rate for each 100 addi- 

 tional. It always happens that the weight finally comes 

 down to the lower limit, and the owner acknowledges 

 that the one first given was estimated. I confess myself 

 profoundly skeptical as to the present existence of a bear 

 weighing l,0001bs. , anywhere between the Gulf of Cali- 

 fornia and— say the Mackenzie River. 



Color, in the grizzly, is even more uncertain than size, 

 and ranges from a deep blackish-brown to pale yellowish- 

 brown, the last being more unusual than the first, In 

 most cases the hairs are paler at the tip tlian at the base. 

 Therefore, leaving out of consideration the differences 

 between individuals when compared with each other, it 

 may be easily seen that a rough-coated animal with each 

 hair of two or more colors, or shades of color, will pre- 

 sent a very different appearance in full winter pelage 

 from that offered by his more or less worn and faded 

 coat at other seasons. The hunters' "cinnamon" is a 

 reddish-brown grizzly with little or no paler shade on the 

 ends of the hairs; the "silver-tip" is a darker grizzly 

 with the tips a light gray, making a striking contrast to 

 the black-brown bases of the hairs, which plainly show 

 where the hair is shorter — on the legs and feet. The most 

 common form is a mixture of light and dark, giving a 

 truly grizzled appearance to what the voyageurs, in their 

 daring excursions, knew as Voin'S gris or cendre; but 

 almost any dozen of skins collected in any one locality 

 will contain specimens which it is hard to assign definitely 

 to either form. Color, then, falls to the ground, as well 

 as size and skull characters, within the limits of this 

 species. 



One point there is to consider, in which all these bears 

 agree and in wlrich they differ from all others in America; 

 that is, the long foreclaw. This character has sometimes 

 been undervalued, as possessing less stability than I be- 

 lieve exists. During the past twenty years I have been 

 on terms of more or less amicable acquaintance with a 

 great many bpars of this species, both dead and alive, in 

 captivity and in their native mountains, and the large 

 foreclaw, generally blunt at the tip, has been present and 

 conspicuous in all colors, sizes and ages, from the cradle 

 to the grave, which I have ever seen, and could never be 

 mistaken for the short, curved, pointed claw of the rest 

 of the family on this continent. 



There has been less confusion surrounding the black 

 bear, although he, too, has had his troubles. The species 

 was first described by Pallas in 1780, under the name of 

 Ursus americanus, and the black form has been so known 

 ever since. This bear is characterized by a moderately 

 broad skull, the width averaging a little more than .600 

 of the length; a profile which forms a gentle, continuous 

 convexity from the occipital suture to the nasal orifice, 

 although an occasional specimen shows a slight concavity 

 of the forehead. The teeth are comparatively small, the 

 hinder upper molar in three specimens averaging .093 of 

 the length of skull. The foreclaw is short, curved and 

 pointed, much as in the cat. In the Mexican Boundary 

 Survey in 1859, Baird placed under Audubon's name of 

 t/rsMS americanus var. cinnamoiiieus three brown bears, 

 collected in Arizona. Tiiere is nothing in his description 

 to warrant a separation of these specimens from the black 

 I'orm: as the supposed differences in the skull are trivial, 

 and it is a well known fact that cubs of both colors are 

 sometimes found in the same litter. Coues and Yarrow 

 mention such a case on the authority of IVIi'. H. W. Hen- 

 shaw in the Zoology of the Wheeler Survey. 



These brown bears seem to be common in the South- 

 west, and judging from their tracks they reach a size 

 quite up to the standard of large black sp'^cimens. I have 

 uQt beeij fortunate enough to kill any of these bears, bi^t 



in December of last year, among the dense brush at the 

 bottom of a deep caiion in the Chisos Mountains of south- 

 western Texas, I picked tip a good-sized skull bearing all 

 the characters of americanus, and scattered around, 

 among the bones and debris of the carcase, were a few 

 shreds of skin with brown hair still attached, showing 

 what the color of the original owner of the skull had 

 been. 



In 1853 Atidtibon and Bachman, in the "Quadrupeds of 

 North America," described Ursus americanus var. cinna- 

 momeus, which I believe to be a wholly different animal 

 from that of Baird, just refeiTed to, and of other authors, 

 and of this bear it is necessary to speak at some length. 



In December, 1873, through the kindness of the late 

 Gen. .James S. IBrisbin, U. S. A., a bear was received at 

 the Zoological Garden, in company with other specimens 

 which fixed it as a Rocky Mountain inhabitant. At that 

 time Gen. Brisbin was stationed at Omaha, Neb,, and it is 

 a fair inference that these animals came from the region 

 mcst easily reached by the Union Pacific R, R, — south- 

 western Wyoming or the contiguous portions of Colorado 

 or Utah, When I first saw" this bear 1 was impressed 

 witn its want of likeness to any I had ever seen ; his color, 

 contour of head and general appearance being most 

 striking. This animal is still living in the garden. 



While coming East, over the Union Pacific Railroad, in 

 1884, in the possession of a saloon keeper near the station 

 at Green River, Wyoming, I saw another bear, precisely 

 like the first, but was tmable to ptirchase it. In reply to 

 inquiry, the owner said it came from "up country," 

 which, as applied to bears in that locality, would be very 

 apt to indicate the Sweetwater or Wind River mountains. 

 Several years later I had the good fortune to kill a third 

 specimen on one of the heads of the White River in 

 Colorado, but owing to heavy snows the spoils of this bear 

 were not brought out. In 1891 Mr. James E. Cooper, the 

 well-known showman, now dead, brought from the West 

 and presented to the Zoological Society, a bear which a 

 single glance showed to be also of this interesting form. 

 Mi-, Cooper said he bought it out on tlie Union Pacific, 

 and as it was a very old animal and had been in captivity 

 for a long time, I have little doubt that it is the same one 

 I saw at Green River seven years previously. This bear 

 was happily in poor health, and his skeleton has now 

 come under observation. Finally, during the past sum- 

 mer. Prof. E. D. Cope procm-ed a somewliat broken skull 

 in a cave in the Ozark Mountains, Missouri, which in all 

 essential characters agrees with that of the Cooper bear. 



In this skuU the differential characters are very strong- 

 ly marked; its length is ll,25in., with a breadth of 8in., 

 giving the very high proporcion of ,710, The posterior 

 upper molar is 1.25in. long, and is even larger relatively 

 than in the grizzly, being ,110 of the length of skull; and 

 tlie concavity of tlie forehead is very great. All these 

 points far exceed those of any other North American 

 species, and are so striking that the veriest tyro in 

 anatomy would need but a glance at the head of the one still 

 I living, to recognize that his skull must be, essentially, in 

 proportion and ccratour, like tiie one just described, Tlieae 

 bears are each about 5ft, 4in. long and have the claw 

 of the black species. 



The color of the specimen now living, is in autumn a 

 rich reddish brown, almost bay; as his coat becomes worn 

 and faded, he becomes pale yellowish brown, the color 

 being generaUy uniform over the body. To illustrate 

 how light he sometimes becomes, I may mention that 

 some years ago the proprietor of a traveling menagerie 

 was most desirous of purchasing him to fill a cage left 

 vacant by the death of a polar bear. The skin of the 

 Cooper bear is before me now, ar^d is almost of a flaxen 

 color, with traces of a darker shade on the nape. This 

 bear being in bad health never had as rich or full a coat 

 as the other one. The one which I met with in Colorado 

 was killetl in November, and was of similar color to the 

 first, and I should say, parenthetically, that while no de- 

 tailed examination was ever made of the skull of this 

 specimen, its general character was that of the one just 

 spoken of. 



Audubon and Bachman's description relates only to ex- 

 ternal form, but in connection with the plate accompany- 

 ing it, no doubt is left in my mind that it applies to these 

 specimens as well. It cannot, however, be retained as a 

 variety of americanus, the fact being that it is a strongly 

 marked species, quite as much, if not moi-e, unlike the 

 black than it is even to the grizzly. From the black it 

 difl'ers in the greater width of the head, the greater size 

 of the molar teeth, a,nd the highly concave forehead, 

 whfle it departs from the grizzly in an even greater rela- 

 tive width of head ; in a les.s degree in the two otL er charac- 

 ters, and in having a small claw on the forefoot. It must 

 therefore be raised to full specific rank aa Ursus cinna- 

 momeus (Aud. and Bach ), and we have at last a "cinna- 

 mon" bear with a distinct and decided personality. 



Unfortunately, nothing authoritative can be said re- 

 garding the bear spoken of by Richardson in 1831, in the 

 "Fauna Boreali-Americana,"as the "barren-ground bear." 

 He states that it ranges from north and east of the Great 

 Slave Lake to the Arctic Sea, and that it differs from the 

 black bear in "greater size, profile, physiognomy, longer 

 soles and tail," and from the grizzly, "in color and com- 

 parative smalln( ss of claws." His description of its color 

 is not unlike that of cinnamomeus, as given above, and hie 

 reference to "profile and physiognomy" as compared with 

 the black bear, is suggestive. In a general way he wa» 

 disposed to regard his animal as resembling the brown 

 bear of Europe and Northern Asia, and indeed, calls it 

 Ursus arctos var. americanus. Now it is true that ex- 

 ternally cinnamonieus is not unlike small light-colored ex- 

 amples of arctos; and Audubon and Bachman suggest, in 

 fact, that their bear may perhaps be the same as Richard- 

 son's. It is worth considering also that cinnamomeus is 

 certainly not common in the United States, otherwise ita 

 conspicuous characters could not so long have remained 

 unobserved by zoologists; a fact which might be accounted 

 for by supposing it to be an intrusion from a northern 

 range. However, in the absence of further material from 

 that region, no definite opinion can be ventured, but it 

 would not be surprising if they turn out to be the same. 



It is interestmg, by the way, to note that Richardson 

 speaks of a "Ranging Bear" found in the western 

 districts of the United States and "said to have a longer 

 body and legs than the black bear and to be more 

 ferocious when wounded." As far as I know, this is the 

 first literary mention of a name which still survives as 

 "range bear" in portions of the Rockies, as applied to 

 certain grizzlies, long-bodied and lank from individual 

 tendency or lack of food. 



