84 
UubiD^. MAMMALIA. Ursidje. 
tlie polar seas. Dead or alive, nothing comes amiss, 
while his skill enables him to secure not onl}' fish, 
hot even birds. The general appearance of the polar 
bear is too well known to require a lengthened 
description ; yet, it is necessary to notice a few of 
the principal characters. The body is more cylin- 
drical than that of the land varieties of bear ; the head 
is likewise rather more elongated ; the ears are short. 
The muzzle is somewhat curved, the mouth being 
comparatively small, while the neck is long and thick 
The fur, generally speaking, is white, long, loose, 
woolly in texture, and has a silvery lustre ; on the legs 
and under the surface of the belly the hairs are much 
more lengthened. The claws are short, only slightly 
curved, and nearly concealed by the fur. The size 
attained by the polar bear is very considerable. Cap- 
tain Lyons met with a specimen measuring rather more 
than eight and a half feet in length, and weighing six- 
teen hundred pounds avoirdupois. The same gentleman 
obtained from an intelligent Esquimaux the following 
account of the manner in which this animal hyber- 
nates: — “At the commencement of wunter the preg- 
Tiant bears are very fat and ahvays solitary. When a 
heavy fall of snow sets in, the animal seeks some hollow 
place in which she can lie down, and remains quiet 
while the snow covers her. Sometimes she will wait 
until a quantity of snow has fallen, and then digs her- 
self a cave ; at all events, it seems necessary that she 
should be covered by, and lie amongst the snow. She 
now goes to sleep, and does not wake until the spring 
sun is pretty high, when she brings forth two cubs. 
The cave by this time has become much larger, by the 
elfect of the animal’s w'armth and breath, so that the 
cubs have room enough to move, and they acquire 
considerable strength by continually sucking. The 
dam at length becomes so thin and weak, that it is 
with great difficulty that she extricates herself, when 
the sun is powerful enough to throw a strong glare 
through the snow wdiich roofs the den.” We have 
already alluded to this animal’s cunning and activity. 
Here is the method it adopts to catch a seal, for the 
account of which we are also indebted to the “ Private 
Journal” of Captain Lyon : — “ The bear, on seeing his 
intended prey, gets quietly into the water, and swims 
to leeward of him, from whence, ’uy 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 the contrary, he lies still, his destroyer 
makes a powerful spring, kills him on the ice, and 
devours him at leisure.” Captain Sir Edward Belcher, 
in his interesting work entitled “The Last of the 
Arctic Voyages,” also gives an amusing description of 
the performances of a female polar bear, whose antics 
seemed to have for their object the capture of a seal 
by another shrewd expedient. On the first day of June, 
1853, he wi'ites: — “ We pushed on for Tongue Point, 
and there pitched. More bears ! I was busy on the 
Point with the instrument, watching for an object, 
when I noticed a lady and her cub, amusing them- 
selves, as I imagined, at a game of romps, but the old 
lady WAS evidently the more excited. Possibl}' no such 
opportunity has before been afforded to any naturalist 
of witnessing quietly the humours or habits of these 
animals. At first the motions of the mother appeared 
to me as ridiculously absurd, or as if she was teaching 
her cub to perform a summerset, or something nearly 
approaching it ; but the cub evinced no interest, no 
participation in the sport, indeed moved off and lay 
down, apparently to sleep. The antics, too, of the 
mother were too distant from the cub to pi'ove instruc- 
tive. I will endeavour to convey my impression of 
the exhibition, as viewed through the telescope at a 
distance of a quarter of a mile, as well as the object on 
which she appeared intent. It must first be borne in 
mind, that a bear of such dimensions as that before me 
would weigh about six and a half or seven hundred- 
weight. The object apparently in view was to break a 
hole iu the ice. In order to effect this the claws were 
first put in requisition, and as nimbly and gracefully as 
a dog did the huge creature tear up and scatter snow 
and ice to the Avinds ; having removed as she imagined 
sufticient, she then appeared to estimate her distance, 
calculate on her leap, and in the effort came down 
perpendicularly on her fore-paws over the spot which 
she had scratched. Something, she imagined, had 
been effected. She continued to repeat this scratching 
and amusing mode of pounding until at length she 
appeared satisfied, when she assumed an attitude of 
‘ dead point,’ with fore-paw raised, and remained for 
some time immovable. The question occurred to me, 
‘ Is this a mode, by concussion and making a hole, of 
seducing a seal within gripe?’ for 1 have repeatedly 
noticed that when we cut for tide-hole, fire-hole, &c., 
that these inquisitive animals will show themselves. 
This, however, I leave for others to verify.” After 
this, an unsuccessful attempt was made to get within 
shot, but both mother and cub made their escape. Sir 
E. Belcher does not state whether he minutely exam- 
ined the spot thus signalized, to ascertain if any 
injury had been done to the ice ; nevertheless, his 
observations have very great interest, and the correct- 
ness of his conjecture is placed almost beyond a doubt. 
The female bear, as we have just seen, is very careful 
over her cubs ; these, if taken while still very young, 
may be successfully tamed. The following incident, 
however, shows the necessity of caution : — An English 
officer, while stationed at one of the more remote and 
lonely fortresses of Canada, amused himself by taming 
a young polar bear. He succeeded in teaching the 
little cub to fetch and carry, and its behaviour was so 
unexceptionable that the animal was allowed to share 
his master’s meals, and to follow at his heels when out 
for a walk. On returning to this country, the ursine 
pet accompanied the officer on board ship, and soon 
acquired the unreserved confidence of the passengers 
and crew, and by his facetious antics afforded them 
much pleasure and diversion. In a very short time, as 
is frequently the habit with domesticated animals, he 
showed a particular liking for children of the female 
sex, and singled one out as an especial favourite ; the 
little girl, who was a daughter of one of the lady pas- 
sengers, reciprocated the bear’s attentions, and the 
loving pair daily romped about the deck with ecstatic 
delight. This fun, however, rvas after a time destined 
