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POPULAR OFFICIAL GUIDE. 



POLAR BEAR "SILVER KING." 



Ill 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 "Boethic" 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" occupies the cage 

 that was specially built for the polar bears, and the female 

 is exhibited in very comfortable quarters, built for her near 

 that installation. 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. "Silver King" 

 weighs 880 pounds and is probably the largest Polar Bear 

 ever captured alive and unhurt. While the female is not as 

 large as "Silver King," she is in every way as perfect a 

 specimen. 



The Yakutat Bear, (Ursus dalli). — In 1899, we received 

 from Hudson Lake, Copper River District, Alaska, two 



