Aug. 1859. THE POLAR BEAR. 289 



to avoid both men and dogs ; therefore our plan was to lie 

 down and remain quite still, the bear would then cautiously 

 approach, sheltering himself from view as long as possible. 

 Polar bears, hares, and foxes sometimes stand erect to 

 reconnoitre, and I once shot a bear in this attitude ; had I 

 hesitated for a second or two, he would have completed his 

 survey of us, and would probably have cautiously and safely 

 retreated as he had advanced, by keeping behind hummocks 

 of ice. In all our adventures with bears not previously 

 acquainted with man, we found them to be inquisitive, 

 timid except when hungry, and somewhat stupid, although 

 in the capture of their prey they display a degree of instinct 

 almost akin to reason ; their endurance of cold, hunger, and 

 fatigue, and their acute sense of smell, are quite extra- 

 ordinary. They are perpetually roaming over the ice across 

 the direction of the wind, scenting out the breathing holes 

 of the seals. More than one officer records seeing a bear 

 scrape away the snow, and enlarge the breathing hole of a 

 seal with his claws, or break the ice by jumping up into the 

 air and alighting with his whole weight on his fore-paws ; 

 and, when sufficiently enlarged, he would lie down beside 

 the hole, and patiently watch for the doomed seal to pop 

 up — almost between the paws of his wily enemy. These 

 seal holes enlarged by bears have frequently been noticed. 



Captain G. H. Richards mentions seeing "a bear with 

 blood stains on his fur indulging in all the gambols of a 

 kitten, and when approached, he moved off head over heels 

 in a very unusual manner for so grave an animal : " but one 

 of these holes through the ice with much blood and the 

 claws of a seal, explained the whole affair. Footprints on 

 the snow of a bear and a wolf have shown where the former 

 had tracked the latter to his lair, had made a successful 

 spring, and, after a sharp struggle, had supped off wolf. 

 Captain Sherard Osborn mentions seeing a bear with her 



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