134 
ZOOLOGICAL Gardens. 
more ferocious than at any other. Each is generally 
followed by two cubs, which, in the language of Hearne, 
" are not larger than rabbits, and make a footmark on 
the snow no bigger than a crown-piece." The old bears 
are extremely careful of their young, and fight despe- 
rately in their defence. 
At other times they are by no means formidable, 
never making the first attack upon a man, although 
they frequently turn upon him with the utmost fury 
when attacked by him. Like the other bears they raise 
themselves for this purpose upon their hinder feet, and 
rush blindly onwards upon their adversary, who has 
only to slip nimbly on one side and plunge his weapon 
into the animal's heart. In this manner the miserable 
Samoiedes and Tungooses, armed only with a short 
spear, are not afraid singly to encounter a beast, which, 
if we are to credit the relations of travellers, was capable 
of striking terror into the hearts of bands of civilized 
Europeans armed with muskets, powder, and ball. 
In captivity the Polar Bear has much of the manners 
of its congeners, but its attitudes are altogether diffe- 
rent. Its favourite postures are lying flat at its whole 
length ; sitting upon its haunches with its fore legs 
perfectly upright and its head and neck in a dependent 
position ; or standing upon all fours with its fore paws 
widely extended and its head and neck swinging alter- 
nately from side to side or upwards and downwards in 
one continued and equable libration. It feeds raven- 
ously upon fish, and refuses no kind of flesh that is 
offered to it ; but that it may be kept entirely upon 
vegetable food was proved on two individuals confined 
in the Paris Menagerie. One of these lived five years 
on bread alone, and the other had thriven upon the 
same diet for no less than seven years. Our specimen 
is fed, like the other bears in the collection, upon a 
mixture of animal and vegetable food. 
