BEASTS OF PREY 53 



parts of the Continent people wear felt pads under the heels of their 

 boots to prevent themselves from slipping on frozen roads. ) 



Its prey consists of the few mammals which are found in its home, 

 and which are also provided with a white fur. Being a skilful climber, 

 it can ascend the so-called "bird-cliffs," where it consumes hundreds 

 of eggs and young nestlings. Like its relative, the brown bear, it, too, 

 does not despise vegetable food (grass, berries, lichens and mosses) which, 

 during the short summer of the Arctic North, grows upon the thawed 

 surface layers of the soil. 



3. The land, however, cannot supply this gigantic animal with 

 sufficient food, especially during the long winter of these regions, and it 

 is therefore compelled to make the sea its principal hunting-ground. 



(a) Its body is protected from the fatal effects of cooling in the icy 

 water by the large air-spaces between the hairs of its fur, by the thick 

 adipose layer under the skin already mentioned, and by the copious 

 secretion of fat from the glands of the skin, by means of which the furry 

 coat is kept constantly lubricated, and thus never allowed to get wet 

 (compare the duck). 



(b) It is as much at home in the water as on land, swimming being 

 facilitated by the large air-spaces between the hairs of the shaggy coat 

 and the fat accumulations within the body ; for air as well as fat, being 

 lighter than water, help to diminish the specific weight of its body. More- 

 over its gigantic strength, wide paws and the cutaneous webs between 

 the toes, enable it to swim with both rapidity and endurance. Seals, 

 walruses, etc., lying on the ice near their air-holes it approaches by 

 noiselessly diving, swimming cautiously up to them beneath the ice, 

 and then suddenly rising out of the water in front of them. It is also 

 an adept at catching fish. 



4. The supply of animal food being always abundant, the Polar bear 

 is not obliged to have recourse to a winter sleep. 



ORDER IV. : FIN-FOOTED CARNIVORES, OR SEALS 

 (PINNIPEDIA). 



Carnivorous animals, leading an aquatic life, with spindle-shaped body 

 and finlike fore and hind limbs. 



The Seal (Phoca vitulina). 



(Length 5£ to 6J feet.) 



A. Distribution and Habitat. 



The seal is found on the coasts of the Northern Atlantic, both on the 

 European and American side. It is common in the North Sea and the 



