134 HISTORY OF THE EUROPEAN FAUNA. 



One of the most important and most typical species 

 is the Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus\ the greater part 

 of whose life is spent on the ice and in the sea. The 

 fact that its favourite nourishment consists of seals 

 proves its excellent and keen faculties of sight and 

 hearing, and its facility in swimming. But it is not a 



FIG. 7. The Musk-Ox ( Ovibos moschatus). (From Flower & Lydekker's 

 Mammals , p. 358. London: Adam & Chas. Black.) 



dainty feeder, and lives upon almost all animals which 

 come within its reach ; birds, land-mammals, or fish 

 are not despised in times of scarcity. Its fur through- 

 out the year is coloured white, though in old bears it 

 assumes a more yellowish hue. 



Another large mammal, perhaps less well known, 

 is the Musk-Ox {Ovibos moschatus, Fig. 7), which 



