The terrestrial mammals and birds of North-East Greenland. 67 



followed the mother for about one and a half year, sometimes per- 

 haps a little longer. Most frequently the polar bear had two cubs 

 at a time. In 25 cases it was stated that a litter contained two 

 cubs, in ten cases only one. The young were watched with the 

 greatest care by the mother which also taught them how to catch 

 seal. With exception of the time when the she-bear was pregnant 

 with her cubs, and the pairing time, the bears were wandering 

 about singly, strolling far and wide on hunting excursions. I was 

 not able to trace any regular wanderings, neither did I observe any 

 hybernation proper with the species. The bears were strolling about 

 all the year round. Yet I believe that for a short time, before and 

 after the birth of the young, the she-bear will remain quietly in 

 her dwelling. The latter was to be found deeply buried in masses 

 of snow on the ice, near some larger ice-berg or among big blocks 

 of ice. Even the male bear would sometimes make holes in the 

 snow where he remained for some days in the winter, especially in 

 hard weather. Often the bears returned to such dens, when their 

 hunting excursions were finished. 



As a rule the polar bears showed themselves very curious, and 

 sometimes they might be rather forward. This seemed to be the case 

 especially with the younger males. Yet most of the bears which 

 were seen, might be considered rather cautious, some of them — 

 chiefly the dams accompanied by their cubs — \N'ere even very shy. 

 Some bears were killed at the ship's harbour, close by the ship, 

 having been enticed there by the meat proA'isions on board. Yet 

 the greater part of the bears killed on the expedition originate from 

 the sledge journeys. During the latter the bear hunting was carried 

 on in the following way: some sledge dogs were let loose to run 

 the bear in and keep it at bay, till the hunters were able to shoot 

 it down at a very short distance. In order to escape the impudence 

 of the dogs, the chased bear would often barricade itself on the top 

 of the nearest ice-berg. Not rarely did the bears choose to retire to 

 the mountains, in which case it was extremely difficult to carry on 

 the pursuit. 



On the whole 64 bears were killed: 34 males, 18 females and 

 12 cubs. 



After this resumé I shall render in condensed form the most 

 important observations and events concerning the polar bear in the 

 succession in which I have put them down. 



On a chartographic expedition to Кар Marie Valdemar and 

 environs from Aug. 15*^ to 27'^^ 1906 two bears were shot — both 

 males, an old and a younger one. One of these bears fled to a smal- 

 ler freshwater lake, wehere Koch killed it with a shot of his revolver. 



5* 



