THE POLAR BEAR. 
3dO 
# Its Powers of endurance are necessarily great, for its means of subsistence are always pre- 
carious, and in many cases are extremely small indeed. As the Bear is in the habit of passing 
so much time upon the ice, and generally devours upon its frozen surface the prey which has 
been captured, it is liable to be affected by the sudden and extraordinary changes that are 
constantly taking place in the vast ice-fields of these cold regions. Pieces of ice on which the 
Bears are quietly sleeping after their repast, become noiselessly dissevered from the main 
body, and are carried off to sea for a very great distance before the Bear is aware of its enforced 
voyage. Scoresby records such an instance, where he met with a Polar Bear upon a piece of 
drift ice that was floating at sea some two hundred miles distant from the land. As the ice 
nourishes no animals that could afford nutriment to the white-coated resident, the Bear is 
forced to depend for its entire subsistence upon the fish that it may be able to capture. Out 
at sea, however, the fishy tribe are not so easily procured as near the shore, and the hunger- 
endurent powers of the Bear are thoroughly tested before it can again place its shaggy foot on 
the welcome soil. 
Owing to these marine excursions the Polar Bear is forced to pay unwilling visits to civil- 
ized shores which it loves not, and where it is obliged to fall upon the sheep and cattle of the 
residents in order to appease its hunger. The ire of the owners is greatly excited by the loss 
of their cattle, and the unfortunate Bear — a thief in spite of itself — is soon destroyed by the 
bereaved proprietors. Sometimes a whole party of Polar Bears is thus carried off, and for a 
while they inflict infinite damage on the country where they land. 
As the A ennook passes its life among the wintry regions of the north, its hybernation has 
been often discredited, and it has been said to make a partial migration southwards, so soon 
as the terrible frosts of the Arctic winter close up the pools whereto the seals and other animals 
which constitute its prey are in the habit of resorting. Other writers, again, assert that the 
Polar Bear ceases feeding in the winter, as do the other members of the same group, and that 
the young Nennooks are produced while the mother is safely housed in her den. There is a 
truth in both these opinions, for it is now ascertained that the female Polar Bear is in the 
habit of hybernating, but the male Aennook passes his winter in the active exercise of his 
faculties. 
The winter home of the Polar Bear is always made in some sheltered situation, such as 
the cleft of a rock, or the foot of a precipitous bank. In a very short time after the animal 
has taken up her residence in her new abode, she is effectually concealed from observation by 
the heavy snow-drifts, which cover the whole country with such strange! y-shaped hills and 
valleys that the Bear’ s den is entirely undiscoverable by the eye. Sometimes the Bear will 
wait until a heavy fall of snow has taken place, and then will dig away the snow so as to form 
a cavern of the requisite size. In all cases, the snow appears to be a necessary element in the 
well-being of the animal during its long winter’s repose. If the female Bear should not be 
about to take upon herself the cares of maternity, she does not think herself bound to lie 
hidden during the winter, but traverses the ice-fields together with the male, and becomes 
very fat during the cold months of the year. These nomad individuals do not confine their 
peregrinations to the sea-shore, but extend their journeys inland to a considerable distance, 
being sometimes found as far as thirty miles from the sea-coast. 
The young of the ISTennook are generally two in number ; and when they make their first 
appearance outside the snow-built nursery in which their few months of existence have been 
passed, are about the size of shepherds’ dogs, and in excellent condition. Their mother, 
however, is sadly reduced by her long fast and the calls which have been made upon her by 
her offspring ; so that she re-enters the world in a very poor condition of aspect and temper, 
as might be expected of so ravenous and hungry an animal. Watchful over the safety of her 
cubs, and unburdened by any superfluous flesh, she is a very dangerous personage to be 
casually met with ; for she is so savage with hunger that her temper is in a constant state of 
irritation ; and she is so jealous of the safety of her offspring that she suspects every moving 
object to be an enemy. 
The flesh of the Polar Bear is eatable, and is highly esteemed by the Arctic voyagers, 
who eagerly welcome a supply of fresh and wholesome meat such as is furnished by the animal 
