122 POPULAR OFFICIAL GUIDE. 
POLAR BEAR “SILVER KING.”’ 
“Silver King’’ as he appeared in Kane Basin before his capture. 
In winter, as the edge of the ice-pack moves southward, and 
in summer when it retreats northward, he follows it in 
order to keep in touch with the ringed seals and walrus 
that also go with it. 
The power of the Polar Bear to resist ice-cold water— 
nay, even to enjoy it—may fairly be regarded as one of 
the wonders of Nature. On the coast of Alaska this strange 
creature will plunge into the Arctic Ocean and swim miles 
from shore, through tossing fields of broken ice, and wher- 
ever the mother leads, her cubs follow. 
In the Autumn of 1910, the sealing steamer “Bocthic”’ ar- 
rived at New York bringing two adult Polar Bears that were 
captured in the summer of that year by Mr. Paul J. Rainey. 
Both animals were presented to the Zoological Society; and 
the largest one called ‘‘Silver King’’ oceupies a small cage 
that was specially built for him, near the large Polar Bear 
Den. Owing to their savage temper neither of these bears 
ever can be kept with other bears, nor can any keeper ever 
enter the cage of either. This renders it absolutely neces- 
sary that their cages should be small enough that they can be 
cleaned from without. ‘‘Silver King’’ weighs 880 pounds 
and is probably the largest Polar Bear ever captured alive 
and unhurt. 
The Yakutat Bear, (Ursus dalli)—In 1899, we received 
from Hudson Lake, Copper River District, Alaska, two 
