THE POLAR BEAR. 
133 
in which he saw a Polar Bear diving after a salmon 
and succeeding in capturing it^ a striking proof of 
the agility of its movements in the water. In the 
autumn, we are told by Dr. Richardson, it frequents 
the shores in search of berries and other vegetable 
matters ; but this deviation from its usual habits is 
probably more from necessity than choice. We have 
no account of its climbing trees ; neither does the 
structure of its claws or its general organization appear 
fitted for such a purpose. 
The females of this species retire into their winter 
quarters about the middle of September according to 
Pallas, or not till the end of December according to 
Hearne, and leave them with their young in March or 
April. They do not take much pains in the selection 
or preparation of their abode ; but generally lie down 
under a projecting mass of ice, or bury themselves in 
the snow, which frequently covers them to a very con- 
siderable depth. It has been doubted whether the 
males also hybernate, or whether they do not, as Hearne 
maintains, remain at large during the whole of the 
winter, feeding upon seals, which they catch on the 
extreme ledges of the ice. It is certain that they are 
occasionally met with as late as December, and pro- 
bably also in January and February ; but these may 
be only individual instances, in which the animals, not 
having accumulated sufficient fat for their winter suste- 
nance, were compelled by hunger to shift for themselves 
during the usual period of torpor. The males of none 
of the species appear to hybernate with the same regu- 
larity as the females, in whom this process appears to 
be essential to the preservation and security of their 
offspring. When they first emerge from their winter 
retreats they are extremely lean ; and the cravings of 
their own appetites, combined with the necessity of 
providing for their young, render them at this period 
