190S.] 



MAMMALS. 



225 



tracks of a large bear, undoubtedly of this species, were seen on two 

 occasions on the Thelon, and one was killed by Fairchild, a member 

 of the party. This specimen, unfortunately, was lost in a canoe acci- 

 dent.'' During the same season, J. M. Bell, while exploring in the 

 Great Bear Lake region, met with this species. He writes me that he 

 saw grizzly bears, large grayish-brown brutes, quite often along the 

 west and north shore of Great Bear Lake." Hanbury failed to meet 

 with any of these bears during his long journey through the Barren 

 Grounds in 1901-2.. On reaching the coast near Ogden Bay, early in 

 May, 1902, he learned from the Eskimo that the animals occur all 

 along the Arctic coast, though not numerously, but that they do not 

 emerge from their winter quarters until June. Proceeding westward, 

 he noted tracks in several places between there and Great Bear Lake, 

 but saw none of the animals. He saw the last fresh tracks on the north 

 shore of Great Bear Lake, near the mouth of Haldane River, late in 

 August.^ MacFarlane in his recent paper on northern mammals refers 

 to a number of instances which occurred in his personal experience, 

 illustrating the ferocity of this species. He met with it on several 

 occasions in various parts of the Anderson River and Franklin Bay 

 region. According to the Indians this bear brings forth one or two 

 cubs every third year. The stomachs of the specimens examined by 

 him were mostly full of various edible roots and one or two contained 

 caribou meat."^ He obtained both skins and skulls of this bear in the 

 Anderson River region, and skulls from Anderson River, Franklin 

 Bay, and the ' Arctic Coast ' [probably to the northward of Fort 

 Anderson] have been recorded by Merriam in his recent paper on the 

 American bears.'^ 



A mounted specimen in the National Museum, taken by MacFarlane 

 on the Barren Grounds to the eastward of Fort Anderson in June, 

 1804, is dull yellowish broAvn in color. It resembles closely some 

 specimens of the grizzly bear, but the head is more yellowish. 



Thalarctos maritimus (Phipps). Polar Bear. 



This species occurs all along the northern coast and on the islands 

 of the Arctic Sea. Sabine recorded it from Melville Island, where, 

 however, it was not common, only two individuals being observed dur- 

 ing the time (about a year) that the ships were detained there.^ J. C. 

 Ross reported it from Port Bowen ; Batty Bay ; Fury Beach ; and 

 Boothia Felix.^ In his narrative of the voyage of the Investigator 



«Ami. Rept. Dept. Interior (Canada), for 1900-1901, p. 122, 1902. 

 * Sport and Travel in Northland of Canada, pp. 139, 199, 243, 1904. 

 <^ Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XXVIII, pp. 718-720, 1905. 

 <^Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., X, p. 78, 1896. 



^ Suppl. to Appendix Parry's First Voyage, p. clxxxiii, 1824. 

 ^Appendix to Ross's Second Voyage, p. vii, 1835. 



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