THE POLAR BEAR 



595 



believed by Dr. Packard to have been observed in Newfoundland ; while further 

 evidence of their former existence is afforded by the observations of Corte Real in 

 1500 and Cartier in 1534. The bones found in the shell mounds of Goose island, 

 Casco bay, Maine, are considered to belong to the present species, and thereby in- 

 dicate the probability of its range having extended thus far south. In Southern 

 Labrador the Polar bear seems to be totally extinct, the last specimen that was seen 

 on the shores of the strait of Belle Isle (dividing Labrador from Newfoundland) 

 having been killed in the year 1849. In Labrador the range of the white bear 

 overlaps that of the American black bear. 



Baron Nordenskjold states that the Polar bear generally lives on 

 such coasts and islands as are surrounded by ice, while it is often 

 found on the ice fields far out at sea, which form its best hunting grounds. In re- 



Habits 



POI^AR BEAR CUMBING A FI.OE. 



gard to the numbers of these animals, he states that the Norwegian ' ' vessels from 

 Tromsoe brought home in 1868 twenty, in 1869 fifty-three, in 1870 ninety-eight, in 

 1871 seventy-four, and in 1873 thirty-three bears. It may be inferred from this 

 that the Norwegian walrus hunters kill yearly on an average at least a hundred 

 bears. It is remarkable that in this large number a pregnant female or one with 

 newly-born young is never found. The female bear appears to keep herself well 

 concealed during the time she is pregnant, perhaps in some ice-hole in the interior 

 of the country." 



In Nordenskj old's opinion it is not certain that the Polar bear hibernates, 

 although there are several circumstances indicating that it probably does so. In the 

 most northerly wintering-stations of ships, the bears almost completely disappear 



