B E A 



B E A 



maritimus albus major arcticus. Martens. Spitzb. 73. t. o. 

 f. c. forte distincta species est, nobis noil visa, capite lor.giore, 

 collo angustiorc.' 



The habits, and many parts of its organization adapted 

 to those habits, of the Polar or Sea Hear, I'Ours Polaire 

 of the French, Wawpusk of the Cree Indians, Nannouk of 

 the Esquimaux, Nennook of the Greenlanders, Ursus ma- 

 ritimus of Erxleben, Ursus marinus of Pallas, Ursus albus 

 of Brisson, Thalarctos maritimus of Gray, according to 

 the testimony of all zoologists, have confirmed the accuracy 

 of Martens. 



An inhabitant of the dreary regions which surround the 

 North Pole with eternal frost, and of those coasts which are 

 rarely free from ice, the Polar bear is almost entirely car- 

 nivorous, in a state of nature. Animals of the land and of 

 the sea, birds and their eggs, the dead and the living, are 

 alike devoured. An admirable swimmer and diver, and of 

 great strength, he chases the seal with success, and is said 

 to attack the Walrus itself. Cartwright relates an anec- 

 dote in proof of his agility in the water. lie saw a Polar 

 bear dive after a salmon, and the bear dived with success, 

 for he killed his fish. Captain Lyon gives the following 

 account of its hunting the seal : ' The bear on seeing his 

 intended prey, gets quietly into the water, and swims until 

 to leeward of him, from whence, by frequent short dives he 

 silently makes his approaches, and so arranges his distance, 

 that, at the last dive, he comes to the spot where the seal 

 is lying. If the poor animal attempts to escape by rolling 

 into the water, he falls into the bear's clutches ; if, on the 

 contrary, he lies still, his destroyer makes a powerful spring, 

 kills him on the ice, and devours him at leisure.' The 

 same author informs us that this bear not only swims with 

 rapidity, but is capable of making long springs in the water. 

 Captain Sabine states that he saw one about midway be- 

 tween the north and south shores of Barrow's Straits, which 

 are forty miles apart, though there was no ice in sight to 

 which he could resort for rest. 



The floating carcasses of whales and other marine animals 

 form a considerable part of its food, and the smell of the 

 burning hreng often brings it to the whale ships. Dr. Ri- 

 chardson says, that it does not disdain, in the absence of other 

 food, to seek the shore in quest of berries and roots. The 

 Polar bear moves faster on firm ground than might be sup- 

 posed from his appearance. Captain Lyon describes its 

 pace when at full speed, as 'a kini of shuttle, as quick as 

 the sharp gallop of a horse.' 



This species is of a more lengthened form than that of 

 the others, the head is very much elongated and flattened, 

 the- ears and mouth comparatively small, the neck very long 

 and thick, and the sole of the foot very large. The fur is 

 silvery white tinged with yellow, close, short and even on 

 the head, neck, and upper part of the back ; long, fine, and 

 inclined to be woolly on the hinder parts, legs, and belly. 

 The sole of the foot exhibits a beautiful instance of adapta- 

 tion of means to an end, for it is almost entirely covered 

 with long hair, affording the animal a firm footing on the 

 ice. The claws are black, not much curved, thick and 

 short. Captain Lyon'* crew found none of the terrible 

 effects (skin peeling off, &c., &c.) from eating the llesh, 

 ,i -ib' (1 to it by some of the earlier voyagers. 



[Unw (ThalnrctM) m.intimui.J 



The accounts given of the size, strength, and ferocity of 

 this animal by the early navigators are appalling; but the 

 accuracy of modern investigation has dissipated a good deal 

 of the awe with which it -was regarded, and has gone far to 

 prove, that the excited imagination of some of the narrators 

 has led them beyond the truth. That the polar bear when 

 pressed will attack man there is no doub't, and that such an 

 attack must be most formidable, every one who has seen 

 the fine specimen, killed in 70 40' N. lat. and 68 00' W. 

 long., brought home by Captain (now Sir John) Ross, from 

 his first voyage (1818), and exhibited on the staircase of 

 the British Museum, will allow. But when one informs us 

 that the skin of a Polar bear slain by him and his comrades 

 was twenty-three feet long ; and another, that he and his 

 party were frequently attacked by them, that they seized 

 on the seamen, carried them off with the greatest ease, and 

 devoured them at their leisure within sight of the survivors ; 

 we must be permitted to pause before we give entire credence 

 to the stories. 



The gallant adventurers who conducted the modern 

 northern expeditions penetrated far beyond the points 

 formerly reached, and had opportunities of observing num- 

 bers of Polar bears. The greatest length from nose to tail, 

 recorded by Captain Phipps, is seven feet one inch, the 

 weight of the beast being six hundred and ten pounds. 

 Captain Ross records the measurement of seven feet ten 

 inches, and the weight of eleven hundred and sixty pounds ; 

 and Captain Lyon states, that one which was unusually 

 large, measured eight feet seven inches and a half, and 

 weighed sixteen hundred pounds. The greater number of 

 ftill grown individuals are spoken of as tar inferior to these 

 in dimensions and weight. 



The testimony of zoologists is to the same effect. The 

 adult female mentioned by Pallas was only six feet nine 

 inches from nose to tail ; and that in the French menagerie, 

 alluded to by Cuvier, measured about six feet English on 

 its arrival, and gained nothing in size at the end of seven 

 years. The individual which lias been kept for a consi- 

 derable time in the garden of the Zoological Society is fa- 

 miliar to many of our readers, and furnishes another in- 

 stance of the average proportions of these animals. 



Pennant states that Polar bears are frequent on all the 

 Asiatic coasts of the Frozen Ocean, from the mouth of the 

 Obi eastward, and that they abound in Nova Zenibla, 

 Cherry Island, Spitzbergen, Greenland, Labrador, and the 

 coasts of Baffin's and Hudson's Bays, but that they are un- 

 known on the shores of the White Sea. Captain (now Sir 

 Edward) Parry, saw them within Barrow's Straits as far as 

 Melville Island ; and, during his daring boat-voyage, be- 

 yond the 8'^ north latitude. Dr. Richardson says, that 

 the limit of their incursions southwnrd on the shores of 

 Hudson's Bay and of Labrador, may be stated to be about 

 the 55th parallel. Captain (now Sir John) Franklin learnt 

 from the Esquimaux to the westward of Mackenzie River, 

 that they occasionally, though rarely, visited that coast. 

 Captain Beechey did not meet with any in his voyage to 

 Icy Cape. 



As the Polar bear resides principally on the fields of ice, 

 he is frequently drifted far from the land. ' In this way," 

 says Dr. Richardson, ' they are often carried from the coast 

 of Greenland to Iceland, where they commit such ravages 

 on the flocks, that the inhabitants rise in a body to destroy 

 them.' The same author gives the following observations, 

 confirmatory of Hearne, from Mr. Andrew Graham's MSS. 

 ' In winter,' says Graham, ' the white bear sleeps like 

 other species of the genus, but takes up its residence in a 

 different situation, generally under the declivities of rocks, 

 or at the foot of a bank where the snow drifts over it to a 

 groat depth; a small hole for the admission of fresh air is 

 constantly observed in the dome of its den. This, however, 

 has regard solely to the she-bear, which retires to her 

 winter quarters in November, where she lives without food, 

 brings forth two young about Christmas, and leaves the 

 den in the month of March, when the cubs are as large as 

 a shepherd's dog. If perchance her offspring are tired, 

 they ascend the back of the dam, where they ride secure 

 either in water or ashore. Though they sometimes go 

 nearly thirty miles from the sea in winter, they always 

 come down to the shores in the spring with their cubs, 

 where they subsist on seals and sea-weed. The he-bear 

 wanders about the marshes and adjacent parts until No- 

 vember, and then poes out to the sea upon the ice, and 

 preys upon seals. They are very fat, and though very in- 



