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Show aounuauce 01 me - uupuer oquixrei ( opvrmupnwj narrumj9 HUU buwo o v uuuub uuusn-tnte uo small proportion of their food, a fact which might well be borne in mind by the farmers, to whom these squirrels are almost a deplorable scourge. No. 716 Sex. 9 ad. Locality. Walker's Basin, Cal Date. Aug. 98,1875 Collector. Francis Klett URSIDJE. 9. Ursus horribilis, Ord.- Grizzly Bear. Perhrfps few animals have suffered more from persistent and relentless warfare waged by man than this formidable Bear. To the sheep- owners especially, whose immense flocks under the care of one or two men are driven far into the heart of the mountain wilderness to pass the summer months, are these animals special objects of dread. Accordingly every means in their power are used for their extermination. A supply of strychnine is part of the outfit of every shepherd, and by means of this the number of Bears is each year diminished, till in many sections where formerly they were very abundant they have entirely disappeared. This is particularly the case with the Grizzly, whose nature seems to be far more savage, and who courts the secrecy of the deep wilderness far more assiduously than his congeners, the various varieties of the Black Bear. Accordingly, in many thinly- settled regions, where the latter is still by no means uncommon, the Grizzly has entirely disappeared, having been killed out or forced to withdraw to more inaccessible sections. In some sections, however, as in certain portions of the mountains near FortTejon, the Grizzlies are quite numerous, sufficiently so as to make deer- hunting on the mountain ridges, where the chaparral grows in almost impenetrable clumps, a matter of no little danger. It is an indisputable fact that the temper of the Grizzly of the Sierra Nevadas and of the same species of the Rocky Mountains is very different. The latter seems to be an animal to be dreaded, but little, if any, more than the Black, Brown, or Cinnamon Bears of the same region, and rarely has it been known to assume the initiative in a contest with man. Very different is it in the Sierras, where stories of unprovoked attacks by Grizzlies are frequent, and not few are the lives lost in such encounters. 10. Ursus amcricamis, Pall.- Black Bear. The various types of this Bear, known* as the Black, Brown, and Cinnamon varieties are all found in California, and are more or less numerous. The approach of winter sends down from the mountains many of these animals, which often congregate in some locality which proves favorable for a supply of food, and where earlier they do not appear at all. Thus, in the hills near Caliente their broad tracks wero everywhere visible in the oak- groves, where they had descended in the night from their lurking places in the deep canons and the dense chaparral thickets, to feast upon the rich harvest of acorns. OVIDJE. 11. Oris man tan a, Cuv.- Rocky Mountain Sheep. A small band of these animals was seen upon the summit of Mount Pinos, in the Coast range, and another near the tup of Mount Whitney. Their tracks were frequently observed by the parties who ascended the lofty summits of the Sierras, though they are apparently less numerous in California than in many parts of the Rocky Mountain region. 12. Antilocapra americana, Ord.- Prong- horned Antelope. The dry plains in various portions of Southern California are tolerably well stocked with Antelopes, bands of which may occasionally be seen close to the lesser- traveled roads. Their extreme wariness, as well as tho desert nature of much of the country inhabited by them, serves to protect and prevent their extermination. CERVHXS;. 13. Cervus canadensis, Erx.- American Elk. The Elk has almost entirely disappeared from Southern California, in some portions of which it existed in great numbers but a few years sinej. I was informed by relifi- |