THE BIOGRAPHY OF A GRIZZLY

by

ERNEST THOMPSON SETON

Author of
The Trail of the Sandhill Stag
Wild Animals I Have Known
Art Anatomy of Animals
Mammals of Manitoba
Birds of Manitoba
Lives of Game Animals
The Gospel of the Redman
The Buffalo Wind

Published by D. Appleton-Century Company, New York

Copyright, 1899, 1900, by
The Century Co.
Copyright, 1900, by
Ernest Seton-Thompson.

Copyright Renewed, 1927
by
Ernest Thompson Seton

All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission of the publisher.

Printed in the U. S. A.

This book is dedicated to the memory of days spent in Wind River Mountains and on the Graybull, where from hunter, miner, and personal experience I gathered many chapters of the History of Wahb.

THE GRIZZLY

NEARLY half a century has gone since I lived among these scenes and made my observations on the grand Old Bear of the Mountains.

Many new conditions have in that time developed, have changed the course of history. But the biggest, saddest change of all is that the Grizzly Bear, the most magnificent, dignified, and powerful beast of the wild, heroic West, is gone.

There may be a few individuals about Yellowstone Park or other great havens, but the Grizzly Bear as the wide-wandering monarch of the hills has gone the way of the Dodo.

It is just possible that in this last and latest time a newborn strong and growing sentiment will come to the rescue, will prompt us to seek out and preserve the last remnant, just as long-belated appreciation came at final stance to save for later generations the Great Sequoia Tree, when man's blind avarice had all but wiped it out. Good men are now at work with better thoughts, and reverence for the masterpieces, the giants of creation's world. It may be that this newer thought may come in force and save the grand old Bear while yet it curbs his power for harm. This is my hope and prayer; this is the sentiment unwritten, but expressed, in my Story of the Grizzly.

Ernest Thompson Seton

LIST OF FULL-PAGE DRAWINGS

PART I
THE CUBHOOD OF WAHB

I

e was born over a score of years ago, away up in the wildest part of the wild West, on the head of the Little Piney, above where the Palette Ranch is now.

His Mother was just an ordinary Silvertip, living the quiet life that all Bears prefer, minding her own business and doing her duty by her family, asking no favors of any one excepting to let her alone.

It was July before she took her remarkable family down the Little Piney to the Graybull, and showed them what strawberries were, and where to find them.

Notwithstanding their Mother's deep conviction, the cubs were not remarkably big or bright; yet they were a remarkable family, for there were four of them, and it is not often a Grizzly Mother can boast of more than two.