ming and diving and often it happens 

 that by his strength and quickness he 

 overturns boats and mangles the occu- 

 pants before they can be rescued. The 

 skin and fat of the Polar Bear are more 

 valued by the natives of the north than 

 his flesh, which is both fibrous and strong 

 in flavor. The members of various arc- 

 tic expeditions have been glad to eat it, 

 however, Dr. Kane in particular, having 

 had his life and that of his comrades pre- 

 served for some time by the meat from 

 the carcass of a great bear, which fell into 

 a trap baited simply with an old and 

 greasy stocking. Whenever possible his 

 men shot the bears on the ice, and many 

 pathetic scenes were witnessed by them 

 when the mothers of cubs were killed or 

 when the cubs being slain, their mother 

 refused to leave their bodies, even when 

 wounded. So great is the affection of 

 these bears for each other that when one 

 of a pair is killed the mate remains by 

 the body, fondling and caressing it and 

 trying to tempt it by food and endear- 

 ments to rise again. 



It has always been very difficult to 

 keep Polar Bears in confinement, on ac- 

 count of the heat and lack of swimming 



facilities. The great bears at Bronx 

 Park in New York City are probably the 

 happiest in captivity ; with a great, pool 

 to swim in, rocks to climb and a deep cave 

 down into the cool heart of a granite 

 rock, where they can always retire and 

 go into cold storage. Their happiness is 

 largely due to the ingenuity and kindli- 

 ness of William T. Hornaday, the direc- 

 tor, who probably understands better 

 what an animal wants than any man in 

 America. But after he had provided 

 everything that a well-regulated bear 

 might desire, he was distressed to see his 

 pets idle and sulking, taking no exercise 

 and declining to utilize any of the facili- 

 ties except the cold storage department. 

 It was at this crisis that Mr. Hornaday 

 heard from some whalers that in the arc- 

 tic lands Polar Bears had been seen to 

 play with small boulders by the hour. At 

 once he gave his pets a small boulder 

 and immediately all changed. They 

 pushed, they fought and struggled, rolled 

 the stone up hill and down hill, threw it 

 into the pool and dived for it — and have 

 been happy ever since. They had been 

 like children in a fine house, but with 

 nothing to play with. 



Dane Coolidge. 



O, beautiful world of gold! 

 When waving grain is ripe, 

 And apples beam 

 Through the hazy gleam, 

 And quails on the fence rails pipe; 

 With pattering nuts and winds, — why then, 

 How swiftly falls the white again! 



— G. Cooper, " 'Round the Year." 



144 



