POLAR BEAR. 
285 
Americanus), having occasion to come to the factory for a few necessaries, 
on his return to the tent passed through a narrow thicket of willows, and 
found himself close to a White Bear lying asleep. As he had nothing 
wherewith to defend himself, he took the bag off his shoulder and held it 
before his breast, between the Bear and him. The animal arose on see- 
ing the man, stretched himself and rubbed his nose, and having satisfied 
his curiosity by smelling at tlie bag, which contained a loaf of bread and 
a rnndlet of strong beer, walked quietly away, thereby relieving the 
man from his very disagreeable situation.” 
Dr. Richardson says, “They swim and dive well, they hunt seals and 
other marine animals with great success. They are even said to wage 
war, though rather unequally, with the walrus. They feed likewise 
on land animals, birds, and eggs, nor do they disdain to prey on carrion, 
or, in the absence of this food, to seek the shore in quest of ben-ies and 
roots. They scent their prey from a great distance, and are often at- 
tracted to the whale vessels by the smell of burning kreng, or the re- 
fuse of the whale blubber.” 
The Dr. quotes Captain Lyons, who thus describes the mode in which 
the Polar Bear surprises a seal : — “ The Bear, on seeing his intended prey, 
gets quietly into the water, and swims to the leeward of him, from 
whence, by frequent short dives, he silently makes his approaches, and 
so arranges his distance, that, at the last dive, he comes to the spot 
where the seal is lying. If the poor animal attempts to escape by 
rolling into the water, he falls into the bear’s clutches ; if, on Ihe con- 
trary, he lies still, his destroyer makes a powerful spring, kills him on 
the ice, and devours him at leisure.” Captain Lyons describes the pace 
of the Polar Bear, at full speed, as “ a kind of shuffle, as quick as the 
sharp gallop of a horse.” 
The Polar Bear is by no means confined to the land, on the contrary he 
is seldom if ever seen far inland, but frequents the fields of ice, and swims 
off to floating ice or to ice-bergs, and is often seen miles from shore. 
It is said that these animals “ are often carried from the coast of Green- 
land to Iceland, where they commit such ravages on the flocks that the 
inhabitants rise in a body lo destroy them.” Captain oabtne saw one 
about midway between the north and south shores of Barrow’s Straits, 
which are forty miles apart, although there was no ice in sight to which 
he could resort to rest himself upon. The Polar Bear is said to be able 
to make long leaps or springs in the water. 
This species is found farther to the north than any other quadruped, 
having been seen by Captain Parry in his adventurous boat-voyage be- 
yond 82 degrees of north latitude. 
