596 THE CARNIVORES 



during the long Arctic winter, while there are cases where some of them have been 

 found concealed in holes. It will, however, be obvious that this disappearance from 

 the more northern regions in winter may well be due to migration, while the individ- 

 uals found in concealment may all have been females, which are known to bring forth 

 their young beneath the snow. Other writers, as we shall see below, definitely 

 state that in many districts males and young cubs are to be found in active life 

 throughout the winter ; but it is quite possible that in the most northern portions of 

 its range both sexes may habitually hibernate. According to Eskimo accounts, the 

 female bears are very fat at the time they retire beneath the snow. During their ex- 

 tended excursions after prey, the male and the female, the latter generally attended 

 by one or two good-sized young ones, keep each other company. More are seldom 

 seen together, unless at places where many carcasses of walruses, seals, or white 

 whales are lying. Formerly the sight of a bear created dismay in Arctic travelers, 

 but now the walrus hunters do not hesitate a moment to attack, lance in hand, con- 

 siderable numbers of bears. The bear's principal food consists of the seal and wal- 

 rus. There is not the least doubt, continues Nordenskjold, " that, along with flesh, 

 the bear also eats such vegetable substances, as seaweed, grass, and lichens. The 

 flesh of the bear, if he is not too old or has not recently eaten putrid seal flesh, is very 

 eatable, being intermediate in taste between pork and beef. The flesh of the young 

 bear is white, and resembles veal." In addition to seals and walruses, the Polar 

 bear also subsists on the flesh of certain Cetaceans, and our illustration represents a 

 female carrying a porpoise in her mouth. In some districts the Polar bear con- 

 sumes a large quantity of fish, more especially salmon. It is in summer that it 

 resorts to a vegetable diet. 



From the personal experience of Dr. Robert Brown it appears that the accounts 

 given by the older voyagers of the ferocity of the Polar bear were considerably ex- 

 aggerated, although at close quarters it is a formidable foe. ' ' Unlike its congeners, ' ' 

 writes Dr. Brown, " it does not hug but bites ; and it will not eat its prey till it is 

 dead, playing with it like a cat with a mouse. I have known several men who, 

 while sitting watching or skinning seals, have had its rough hands laid on their 

 shoulders. Their only chance then has been to feign being dead, and manage to 

 shoot it while the bear was sitting at a distance watching its intended victim. 

 Though Eskimos are often seen who have been scared by it, yet, unless attacked or 

 rendered fierce by hunger, it rarely attacks man. During our last trip to Green- 

 land none of our party saw one ; indeed, they are only killed in the vicinity of Disco 

 bay during the winter or spring, when they have either come or drifted south on 

 ice floes." 



Much the same account is given by Mr. G. S. M'Tavish, of the Hudson's Bay 

 Company, who states that in his district it is only occasionally that a Polar bear will 

 attack first. This observer writes that ' ' although the Polar bear is synonymously 

 termed the white bear, they are not all white. Those that are most likely to run 

 away from the hunter are pure white. From the smallest to the largest size these 

 \vhite bears are timid, and I have noticed, on their being killed, they are the fattest. 

 The most dangerous and aggressive kinds, other than females with cubs, is the 

 large-sized male bear of a yellowish, dirty color. . . . Another sort is the 



