286 
POLAR BEAR. 
Pennant, who collected from good authorities much information rela- 
tive to the.r range, states that they are frequent on all the Asiatic coasts 
ot the Frozen Ocean, from the mouth of the Obi eastward, and abound in 
A ov a Zembla Cherry Island, Spitzbergen, Greenland, Labrador, and the 
coasts ol Baffin sand Hudson’s Bays. Dr. Riouardson says,-“Thev 
were seen by Captain Parry within Barrow’s Straits, as far as Melville 
Island ; and the Esquimaux to the westward of Mackenzie river told 
Captain Frankuin that they occasionally, though very rarely, visited 
that coast. The exact limit of their range to the westwa;d is un- 
certain, but they are said not to be known on the islands in Behrinc^’s 
.traits, nor on the coast of Siberia to the eastward of Tchutskoinoss. 
ey are not mentioned by Langsdorff and other visitors of the North- 
west Coast of America ; nor did Captain Beechey meet with any in his 
late voyage to Icy Cape. None were seen on the coast between the 
Mackenzie and Copper-Mine River; and Pennant informs us, that they 
are unknown along the shores of the White Sea, which is an inlet of 
a similar character.” 
Dr. Richariison does not think that the Polar Bear is under the same 
necessity for hibernating that exists in the case of the Black Bear which 
feeds chiefly on vegetable matters, and supposes that although they may 
all retire occasionally to caverns in the snoyv, the pregnant females alone 
seclude themselves for the entire winter. In confirmation of this idea 
the Dr. mentions that “ Polar Bears were seen in the course of the two 
winteis ffiat Capt. Parry remained on the coast of Melville Peninsula • 
and ffie Esquimaux of that quarter derive a considerable portion of their 
subsistence, not only from the flesh of the female Bears, which they di- to- 
gether with their cubs from under the snow, but also from the males "that 
they kill when roaming at large at all periods of the winter. To this 
statement is added Hearne’s account ; he says The males leave the 
land m the winter time and go out on the ice to the edge of the open 
Mmter m search of seals, whilst the females burrow in deep snow-drifts 
from the end of December to the end of March, remaining without food 
and bringing forth their young during that period ; that when they leave 
eir dens m March, their young, which are generally two in number 
are not larger than rabbits, and make a foot-mark in the snow no bigner 
than a crown piece.” 
“ In winter,” says Mr. Graham, “the White Bear sleeps like other species 
he genus, but takes up its residence in a different situation, generally 
under the declivities of rocks, or at the foot of a bank, where the snow 
drifts over it, to a great depth ; a small hole, for the admission of fresh 
air, IS constantly observed in the dome of its den. This, however has 
