eover
joins with the more imaginative members of the "old hunter" variety in
ascribing wildly various traits to these different bears. One comments
on the superior prowess of the roach-back; the explanation being that a
bear in early spring is apt to be ravenous from hunger. The next insists
that the California grisly is the only really dangerous bear; while
another stoutly maintains that it does not compare in ferocity with what
he calls the "smaller" silver-tip or cinnamon. And so on, and so on,
without end. All of which is mere nonsense.

Nevertheless it is no easy task to determine how many species or
varieties of bear actually do exist in the United States, and I cannot
even say without doubt that a very large set of skins and skulls would
not show a nearly complete intergradation between the most widely
separated individuals. However, there are certainly two very distinct
types, which differ almost as widely from each other as a wapiti does
from a mule deer, and which exist in the same localities in most heavily
timbered portions of the Rockies. One is the small black bear, a bear
which will average about two hundred pounds weight, with fine, glossy,
black fur, and the fore-claws but little longer than the hinder ones; in
fact the hairs of the fore-paw often reach to their tips. This bear is a
tree climber. It is the only kind found east of the great plains, and
it is also plentiful in the forest-clad portions of the Rockies, being
common in most heavily timbered tracts throughout the United States.
The other is the grisly, which weighs three or four times as much as the
black, and has a pelt of coarse hair, which is in color gray, grizzled,
or brown of various shades. It is not a tree climber, and the fore-claws
are very long, much longer than the hinder ones. It is found from the
great plains west of the Mississippi to the Pacific coast. This bear
inhabits indifferently lowland and mountain; the deep woods, and the
barren plains where the only cover is the stunted growth fringing the
streams. These two types are very distinct in every way, and
their differences are not at all dependent upon mere geographical
considerations; for they are often found in the same district. Thus I
found them both in the Bighorn Mountains, each type being in extreme
form, while the specimens I shot showed no trace of intergradation.
The huge grizzled, long-clawed beast, and its little glossy-coated,
short-clawed, tree-climbing brothe