Now and then, too, these bears have been known to catch fish. Their usual plan seems to be to wade out into a stream, in some place where the water is not more than about eighteen inches deep, and there to stand motionless until a fish comes swimming past. Then with one quick, sudden stroke the victim is killed, and the bear seizes it in its mouth and carries it to the bank to be devoured.
When bears catch fish in this way they are usually rather dainty, and only eat the best part of the flesh upon the back.
In cold countries these bears often hibernate during the winter, just as bats and hedgehogs do. They eat a great deal of food toward the end of summer, and become exceedingly fat, and then retire to hollow trees or caves and fall asleep for several months, during which they live on their own fat. In the spring, of course, when they wake up, they are very thin, but a few weeks of good feeding will bring them back into proper condition.
These brown bears are very easily tamed, and many "performing bears" belong to this species. It is not nearly such a large animal as the polar bear, its average length being only about six feet.
The American Brown Bear
The brown bear of America is closely allied to that of the Old World. It was first described by Sir John Richardson, who called it the Barrenlands bear. It has since been further described by Dr. Clinton Hart Merriam, chief of the United States Biological Survey. It differs from the grizzly in the smallness of its claws. The difference in the profile also is very marked—the brown bear having a profile like that of the European and Asiatic bear, while that of the grizzly is flat.
The brown bear of North America lives largely on the fruits and berries of the northern plants, on dead deer, and on putrid fish, of which quantities are left on the banks of the northern rivers. Whether the large brown bear of the Rocky Mountains is always a grizzly, or often this less dangerous race, is doubtful. The following is Sir Samuel Baker's account of these bears. He says: "When I was in California, experienced informants told me that no true grizzly bear was to be found east of the Pacific slope. There are numerous bears of three if not four kinds in the Rocky Mountains. These are frequently termed grizzlies; but it is a misnomer. The true grizzly is far superior in size, but of similar habits." There are certainly three Rocky Mountain bears—the grizzly, the brown, and the small black bear. There is probably also another—a cross between the black and the brown. It is a mistake to say that the brown bears which come to eat the refuse on the dust-heaps of the hotels of the Yellowstone Park, and let ladies photograph them, are savage grizzly bears.
The Grizzly Bear
The famous grizzly bear, which lives in North America, is much bigger and stronger and more savage than the brown bears, so that it is really a very formidable animal. When fully grown, this huge creature is sometimes as much as nine feet long from the tip of the snout to the root of the tail, while it weighs at least 800 or 900 pounds.
The grizzly is a very distinct race of brown bear. It has a flat profile, like the polar bear. This enormous creature is barely able to climb trees, and has the largest claws of any—they have been known to measure five inches along the curve. The true grizzly, which used to be found as far north as 61° latitude and south as far as Mexico, is a rare animal now. Its turn for cattle-killing made the ranchmen poison it, and rendered the task an easy one. It is now only found in the northern Rocky Mountains and parts of northern California and Nevada. Formerly encounters with "Old Ephraim," as the trappers called this bear, were numerous and deadly. It attacked men if attacked by them, and often without provocation. The horse, perhaps more than its rider, was the object of the bear.