On the Trail of Ursus 
A Sportsman’s Notes on the Life Habits of the Grizzly, Together With 
Hunting Reminiscences 
By CAPT. BEVERLEY W. ROBINSON 
Illustrated with reproductions of the paintings of Carl Rungius 
HROUGHOUT the whole of 
North America it may truth- 
fully be said that there are no 
really dangerous wild beasts which, 
with no excuse other than their own 
savage instincts, are wont to attack 
man. 
In a country of such vast extent and 
still containing thousands of square 
miles of wilderness almost primeval in 
its nature, this lack seems to have 
caused no little dissatisfaction among 
our early historians and writers of ro- 
mance, and the bear, whether black, 
brown or grizzly, has not infrequently 
been called upon to supply this need in 
some tale of soul-stirring adventure. 
As to such element of truth as may 
exist regarding the ferocity of some 
individual bears I shall refer farther 
on. Suffice it to say, for the present, 
that certain of the species are blessed 
with sufficient courage and self-respect 
to at times rather vigorously resent an 
injury, so that their pursuit by the 
sportsman may have that merest ele- 
ment of risk to render it the more 
alluring. 
Frequently referred to as the King 
of American Game, feared by the less 
hardy members of his clan and by all 
other animals, whether wild or domes- 
tic, and duly respected by the old and 
experienced hunt- ~ 
er, let us first con- 
sider the one most 
worthy of the 
sportsman’s best 
endeavor, I mean, 
his honor The 
Grizzly). or!) “Old 
Ephraim.” 
He occupies no 
unimportant place 
in the early history 
of our west and is 
undoubtedly _ still, 
as always, the most 
picturesque exam- 
ple of the wild life 
of our country. 
Earned, whether 
deservedly or not, 
during the early 
days of the Repub- 
lic, this crusty old 
gentleman seems 
gradually to be liv- 
ing down a none too savory reputa- 
tion. 
From the reports of the early explor- 
ers it would seem that the grizzly was 
considered an extremely savage beast. 
Many references to his ferocity are 
made in the accounts of the voyagings 
of Lewis and Clarke; Schoolcraft, writ- 
ing, in 1820, of the expedition under 
General Cass to the sources of the Mis- 
sissippi, speaks of “such travelers being 
prepared to withstand the savage scalp- 
ing knife and the enraged bear,” while 
Edwin James, the geologist of the party 
headed by Major S. H. Long in 1819, 
tells that as they advanced up the River 
Platte “the more numerous were the 
various animals; the bisons, deer, bears 
and wolves were every day met with” 
. . . and he refers to the Grizzly as 
“the raw-head and bloody bones of 
North America.” 
OW whatever “Old Ephraim” may 
or may not have been, no one who 
has associated with him on anything 
like intimate terms will for a moment 
question his intelligence and sagacity; 
and probably no member of the animal 
kingdom has kept better posted upon 
the gradual improvement and increased 
effectiveness of modern firearms, and 
with greater caution, born of bitter ex- 

perience, has shaped his conduct ac- 
cordingly. 
Be the reasons, therefore, what they 
may, he is certainly not today the nor- 
mally aggressive and terrifying brute 
portrayed by the writings of our earlier 
explorers. 
F a general brownish color, in some 
cases pale, and in others of a 
much darker hue, the hair of the full 
grown grizzly, particularly over the 
back and shoulders, is tipped with sil- 
ver gray, from which he gets the name 
often applied to him of “silver tip.” 
Some individuals having exception- 
ally long hair over the shoulders and 
withers have been called “roach backs,” 
though they are without doubt the same 
animal. In addition to being larger 
and more powerful, he differs from the 
black bear in having much _ longer 
claws, particularly on the fore feet, 
higher shoulders and with a concave 
rather than a convex facial outline. 
Normally he, also, when walking, car- 
ries nis head higher than his smaller 
cousin. Like hogs, which, in their wild 
state, these beasts seem much to re- 
semble in tastes and habits, bears vary 
greatly, both in size and weight, and 
though the average full-grown grizzly 
of the Northwestern Rockies will‘ gen- 
erally weigh  be- 
tween 500 and 600 
pounds, certain 
“old timers” have 
been kiiled that 
have almost 
doubled these fig- 
ures. 
A big male will 
measure about four 
feet at the shoul- 
ders, and when 
skinned out shows 
a marvelous mus- 
cular development 
of neck, body, fore- 
arms and_ thighs 
which readily ex- 
plains his feats 
of strength, of 
which we have fre- 
quent demonstra- 
tion. Any two men 
who have tried to 
roll over or move 
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