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.
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