THE POLAR BEAR 185 



flocks against this Bear, and again that ' there came forth 

 two she-Bears out of a wood and tare forty and two of 

 them/ when the children of Bethel mocked at Elisha. 

 There is now practically no timber in Judaea, and with the 

 gradual destruction of its shelter the Bear has retreated 

 further east of the Jordan. 



Several times in the Scriptures the Bear's ferocity when 

 deprived of its young is used as a simile, e.g., ' Let a Bear 

 robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in 

 his folly' (Prov. xvii. 12). A female Bear guarding her 

 young is a most dangerous animal ; she will fight to the 

 death on their behalf, and in her expiring moments her 

 sole concern is wrapped up in the safety of her progeny. 



The Syrian Bear is not a large animal, little more than 

 a third of the size which the common Brown Bear some- 

 times attains. Its chief depredations are confined to steal- 

 ing corn, apples, and grapes from the vineyards. 



POLAR BEAR (Ursus maritimus). 

 Coloured Plate XI. Fig. 2. 



The Polar Be*r, Ice Bear, or White Bear, is so called 

 from the region it inhabits, or the creamy yellowish fur of 

 its coat. It is found on the desolate shores of the Arctic 

 Ocean in both hemispheres ; and it is one of the few 

 animals that make no attempt by migration to escape the 

 rigours of the terrible winter. It is found sometimes in 

 Iceland, but only when it has reached the island on a 

 berg or drifting ice. 



Though not so bulky as the grizzly, the Polar Bear is 

 longer in the body. The animal is a mighty swimmer ; it is 

 as light as a cork, and the broad feet make excellent paddles. 

 Upon occasions it is seen swimming eighty miles from land, 

 with not so much as an icefloe in sight ; and at other times 

 it will drift hundreds of miles on iceberg or floe, feeding 

 upon the seals around it. 



As it lives among ice, and often has to capture the seal, 

 or even the walrus, as the prey lies upon a glassy surface, 

 the under surface of the paws is covered with a dense 



