106 bear's mode of catching seals. 



" fast " ice, arises from the sound or vibra- 

 tion made by one's feet being communicated 

 to Mm along or through the ice ; we did 

 succeed in making two or three successful 

 long shots, but as each individual villain lay 

 within six inches of his hole, they all contrived 

 to roll in before we got up to them. 



The white bear, as is well known, subsists 

 principally on seals, and he kills many of 

 them on these sheets of " fast " ice, but how 

 he manages to get within arm's length of them 

 there, is beyond what I can understand. When 

 the seals are floating about on loose drift ice. 

 Bruin's little game is obvious enough ; he 

 " first finds his seal," by eyes or nose, in 

 the use of both of which organs Z7. mari- 

 timus is unsurpassed by any wild animal 

 whose acquaintance I have ever made, and 

 then slipping into the w^ater half a mile or so 

 to leeward of his prey, he swims slowly 

 and silently towards him, keeping very little 

 of his head above water : on approaching the 

 ice on which the seal is lying, the bear slips 

 along unseen under the edge of it *, until he is 



* I have been told the bear will dive to avoid being seen 

 by the seal, and as we once saw a bear dive ourselves, I can 

 quite easily credit the fact. 



