food. If it scents fresh venison or beef, it will steal it if possible, and has been known to take the hunter's provisions out from under his head while sleeping. In such a case it is better to pretend to be sound asleep during the stealing, even if very wide-awake, as most likely to be the case, for any movement will be certain to bring down the bear's paw with force upon the hunter's head—"a consummation most devoutly to be" avoided.
This trick of the grizzly—striking a man on the head, or "boxing his ears"—is a dangerous one. It is not at all rare to find men in the mountains and valleys where the grizzly ranges, who have had their skulls broken by the blow of its immense paw. They are much io be dreaded in a personal encounter, and by no means easy to kill, unless hit in the vulnerable spot behind the ear. Those who fancy lion-hunting in the jungles of Africa might find equally good sport in hunting grizzlies in California, Oregon, and in some parts of the Rocky Mountains.
During the summer months they retire to the mountains; but, as the berries ripen, come down to the foot-hills and river-banks, to feed upon their favorite fruits. If a cavern is not at hand when winter comes on in the cold regions they make a bed for themselves in some thicket; or sometimes dig a hole below the surface, in which they pass the winter sucking their paws.—It would seem that where the winters are as mild as in the Coast Mountains of California, they do not hibernate, as they are met with all through the winter season, and kill, and are killed, more than ever at that time, on account of the scarcity of berries.
There are several curious facts in the natural history of this bear; one of the most singular of which is,
