THE WHITE POLAR BEAR. 117 



THE WHITE POLAR BEAR. 



IN THE GARDENS OF THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



It is not long since the naturalists have refrained from confounding the white polar bear with the 

 white land bear, whereas a very essential difference exists in their characteristics, and particularly in 

 their natural habits. In regard to the former, it differs in having the neck and head of a more 

 lengthened form, and the body longer in proportion to its bulk ; the nose is also larger, the nostrils 

 more open, and destitute of whiskers ; the ears are much shorter, and the hair longer and not so 

 coarse. The proportions of the feet exhibit also some striking differences ; the hinder feet of the polar 

 bear are equal in length to a sixth of the length of the body, whereas those of the common brown 

 bear are equal only to a tenth. The whole animal is white, with the exception of tire tip of the 

 nose and the claws, which are jet black; the ears are small and rounded; the eyes small ; the teeth 

 of extraordinary magnitude. The hair is of great length, of a woolly texture, and in some of the 

 species, especially those which are very old, the colour inclines to yellow. Its bps and the interior of 

 its mouth are of a violet blue. 



This animal seems confined to the very coldest parts of the globe, being found within eighty degrees 

 of north latitude, almost as far as any navigators have yet penetrated. The shores of Hudson's Bay, 

 Greenland, and Spitzbergen, are its principal places of residence, but it is said to have been accident- 

 ally carried as far south as Newfoundland. 



The immense number of them which are to be found in the polar regions is truly astonishing. 

 Thev are not only seen on the land, but often on ice-floats several leagues at sea. They are some- 

 times transported in this manner to the very shores of Iceland, where they no sooner land, than all 

 the natives are in arms to receive them. 



The polar bears are animals of tremendous ferocity. Barentz, in his voyage in search of a north- 

 east passage to China, had the most horrid proofs of their ferocity in the island of Nova Zembla ; they 

 attacked his seamen, seizing them in their mouths, carrying them off with the utmost ease, and 

 devouring them even in the sight of their comrades. This ferocious disposition is supposed to be 

 regulated by the mildness or severity of the winter, and although they are animals which can endure 

 a longer fast than any others, yet, when they are much pressed with hunger, their attack is of the 

 most indiscriminate nature, and their voracity is truly astonishing. Their usual food consists of seals, 

 fish, and the carcasses of whales, but when on land, they prey on deer and other animals. They like- 

 wise eat various kinds of berries which they happen to find. They are frequently seen in Greenland 

 in great droves, allured by the scent of the flesh of seals, and will sometimes surround the habitations 

 of the natives and attempt to break in ; and it is affirmed that the most successful method of repelling 

 them is by the smell of burnt feathers. During the summer they reside chiefly on the ice-islands, 

 and pass frequently from one to another, being in swimming extremely expert. They have been seen 

 on these ice-islands at the distance of mere than eighty miles from land, preying and feeding as they 

 float along. They lodge in dens, formed in the vast masses of ice, which are piled in a stupendous 

 manner leaving great caverns beneath. It is generally in the month of March, after a period of six 

 or seven months of gestation, that they bring forth their young, one or two at a time, and sometimes, 



