BEARS 79 



do so) hunt seals as in the summer. On the 

 other hand, it is possible that many male bears 

 imitate the example of the females, hibernating 

 in grottoes of their own construction. Nothing 

 certain is known regarding this, however. 



During a seal hunt amid the ice of Kara, 

 Recamier found at the foot of a line of hummocks 

 a cavity, the inner walls of which were covered 

 with hair. It was unquestionably the hair of 

 a bear. The cavity, which possessed a wide 

 exit, was empty. It was, in fact, nothing more 

 than a large niche in which a bear had sought 

 shelter during the intervals elapsing between its 

 expeditions in search of food. The thaw had 

 not affected it to any marked degree, although 

 it was not discovered until the end of August. 



Bears find the struggle for existence very 

 hard during the winter, when seals and the 

 birds on which they prey are very scarce. This 

 must be so considering how fat a bear invariably 

 is towards the end of the summer, while in the 

 spring it is always amazingly thin. One sur- 

 mises then that starvation superinduces that 

 ferocity which bears display at the latter period 

 of the year. The fact that hunters have only- 

 been attacked by bears during the long northern 

 night or in the spring-time, seems to establish 

 this beyond question. 



