24 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



a score of ways to outwit his prey. Making no noise, he 

 will stalk him over the ice, and adroitly pounce on him 

 at the finish. He will watch a seal-hole as a cat will 

 patiently await the coming out of a mouse; he will hunt 

 him leisurely along the edge of the ice-floes ; then, if the 

 seal happens to be up on the ice and awake and the 

 bear hungry and believes himself discovered he will, in 

 a careless sort of way, slide into the water, dive, and 

 then swim around to the point where the seal rests, 

 seizing him before he has a chance to escape. Several 

 Arctic explorers state that they have seen this bear 



ONLY THE BEAR CUBS CLIMB TREES 



Figure 3. It is remarkable to note the agility with which a cub will 

 ascend a tree; but still more interesting to note that hunters agree 

 that full grown bears do not climb the trees. 



capture fish in the water, diving for them just as a seal 

 does which is not hard to believe when one has observed 

 how much the animal is at home in water, in which he 

 cuts almost as many capers as an otter. 



From Nordenskjold's "Voyage of the Vega" we learn 

 that "when the Polar bear observes a man, he commonly 

 approaches him as a possible prey with supple move- 

 ments and a hundred zigzag bends, in order to conceal 

 the direction he means to take, and to prevent the man 

 from feeling frightened. During this approach, he 

 often climbs up onto blocks of ice,' or raises himself on 

 his hind legs, in order to get a more extensive view. If 

 he thinks he has to do with a seal, he creeps. or trails 

 himself forward on the ice, and is then said to conceal 

 with his forepaws the only part of his body that con- 

 trasts with the white color of the snow his large black 

 nose. If the man keeps quite still, the bear comes in this 

 way so near that it can be shot at the distance of two 

 gun-lengths, or killed with a lance which the hunters 

 consider safer." Should this bear grapple with a man, it 

 rarely or never resorts to hugging his intended victim 

 as our Black bear does, instead he uses his short, sharp 

 claws, and bites like a tiger. 



It is now well known that it is only the females of 



the Polar bears that hibernate during the months of the 

 long Arctic winter. The males ramble around during the 

 entire year, fitted, as they are, to withstand the most 

 severe cold. They never make any attempt to escape it, 

 either by migrating farther south or by hibernation. 



Years ago the Esquimaux reported to Captain Lyon 

 that "at the commencement of winter, the she-bears are 

 very fat and always solitary. When a heavy fall of 

 snow sets in, the animal seeks some hollow place in 

 which she can lie down, and then remains quiet while 

 the snow covers her. Sometimes she will wait until a 

 quantity of snow has fallen, and then digs herself a cave; 

 at all events it seems necessary that she should be covered 

 by and lie in the snow. She now goes to sleep, and does 

 not wake until the spring sun is pretty high, when she 

 brings forth two cubs. The cave by this time has be- 

 come much larger from the effect of the animal's warmth 

 and breath, so that the cubs have room enough to move; 

 and they acquire considerable strength by continually 



A BLACK BEAR FORAGING 



Figure 4. When not hibernating, bears get a very large amount of 

 physical exercise in the routine of their daily life, and it is truly 

 extraordinary how much ground one will cover in the course of a day. 



suckling. The dam at length becomes so thin and weak 

 that it is with great difficulty she extricates herself when 

 the sun is powerful enough to throw a strong glare 

 through the snow which roofs the den. The natives, by 

 means of dogs, which scent them through the snow, and 

 begin scratching and howling very eagerly, find and kill 

 the bears during their confinement. As it would be un- 

 safe to make a large opening, a long trench, of sufficient 

 width to enable a man to look down and see where the 

 bear's head lies, is cut ; he then thrusts in his spear. The 

 old one being killed, the hole is broken open, and the 

 young cubs may be taken out by hand, as, having tasted 

 no blood and never been at liberty, they are harmless 



