the shoulders and flanks are, in the summer season at least, covered with long
hair, which is frequently very pale towards the tips. The Indians and interpreters
who are not very precise in their application of the few terms they have to express
vaneties of colour, often denominate them “ White Bears.” Hearnecalls them
“ Grizzly Bears,” and some confusion has been produced by late writers having
applied the same name to Lewis and Clark’s Ursus ferox. Pennant, who
describes them as a variety of thé American Black Bear, considers them at the
same time to be of the same species with the “ Silver Bear” that inhabits the
north of Europe. It is, indeed, very probable, that the Brown Bear which
Captain King informed Pennant was an inhabitant of Kamskatka, -is of this
species, which may, in fact, extend all along the north of the old continent-
but this, m the present state of our knowledge, is mere matter of .conjecture’
Mention is made in the narrative of Cook’s third voyage * of Bears of a brown
or sooty colour inhabiting the American coast near Cook’s river. Langsdorff
also informs us that Brown and Red Bears are abundant on the Aleutian Islands
where the Black Bear does not exist J . These authors do not furnish us with
any details whereby the species may be determined; but the Bears they mention
live in similar districts with the Barren-ground Bear, and differ in that respect
from the Ursus ferox, which exists principally, perhaps .only, in the buffalo
districts.
■ The Indlans dread 010 Barren-ground Bears, and are careful to avoid burning
bones in their hunting encampments, lest the smell should attract them.
Keskarrah, an old Indian mentioned in the Narrative of Captain Franklin’s first
Journey, was seated at the door of his tent, pitched by a small stream not far
from Fort Enterprise, when a large Bear came to the opposite bank, and
remained for some time apparently surveying him. Keskarrah considering himself
to be m great danger, and having no one to assist him but his aged wife, made
a speech to the following effect: “ Oh Bear ! I never did you any harm ; 1 have
always had the highest respect for you and your relations, and never killed any of
them except through necessity. Go away, good Bear, and let me alone, and I
promise not to molest you.” The Bear walked off; and the old man, fancying
that Ke owed his safety to his eloquence, favoured us, on bis arrival at the fort,
with his speech at length. The Copper Indians often cautioned, us against
these “ White Bears” of the barren lands, which they said would .attack us if
they saw us, but we received no such caution in travelling through the districts
Cook’s Third Voyage, vol. ii. p. 376. f Xianôsdorff’s Travels, vol. ii. p. 74.
frequented by the Black Bear. It does-not, however, possess the boldness of the
"Ursus ferox, as all the individuals we saw fled at once. The Barren-ground Bear
resorts to the coast of the Arctic Sea in the month of August, and preys indiscriminately
upon animal and vegetable matters. .In the. stomach of one which
I opened there were the remains of a seal, a marmot; a large quantity of the
long sweet roots of some astragali and hedysara, together with some berries, and
a little grass. Many long white worms adhered to the interior of the stomach
which held this farrago. Hearne has given the name of Grizzle Bear Hill to
an eminence which had been much ploughed up by the Bears in quest of the
Arctomys Parryi, termed by him “ Ground Hog.” The appellation of grizzly,”
first used by Hearne to designate this Bear, being also applied by the traders
and American authors to the Ursus; ferox, I have given this one the ad interim
name of Barren-ground Bear, until its difference from, or identity with, the Ursu$
arctos of Linnæus be fully established*.
DESCRIPTION.-
We saw several of these animals during Captain Franklin’s first Expedition. An old and
lean male, killed on the shores of the Arctic Sea on the 1st of August, 1821, was of a nearly
uniform yellowish-brown colour, except on the forehead and back, where the tips of the fur
were paler. The fur, which was straight, and of the fineness of coarse wool, was giving
place to a thin coat of blackish hair. Its forehead was broad,, and slightly convex, and the
arch of the orbit rose conspicuously at the root of the nosè, which was straight. The legs
were long, and the claws, of an intermediate size between those of the Black and Grisly
Bears, projected beyond the hairs, and were more pointed than the claws of the latter.
Dental formulât incisors f--, canines [-El , spurious molars , grinders 36.
The incisors were worn flat, except one on each side, which adjoined the canine-teeth, and
which rose in a point above the others. The canines strong, conical, and slightly curved,
projected an inch and a quarter above the: gums. Two small and pointed spurious molar-
teeth {dents espacées') rose on each side of the upper jaw, and were succeeded by three
tuberculated molars that increased in size from the first to the last. The first of these was
pointed anteriorly, and had a lobe posteriorly which exhibited the section of two points. The
other two were worn quite flat ; the second5, or carnivorous-tooth, presented the section of
two pairs of points ; and the last', and largest, the section of three pairs. In the lower jaw, one
small spurious molar-tooth was situated close to the canines. The first of the true molars was
pointed,:without any flattened, lobe; the remaining three differed little from each other in
size, though the middle one was rather the largest; and their crowns were worn so smooth,
that no vestige remained of the points they originally possessed*.
* In the appendix to Captain Parry’s second voyage, from a hasty consideration of the subject, f erroneously stated
the Barren-ground Bear to he the brown variety of the American Black Bear.