6 
CARNIVORES. 
found in active life throughout the winter; but it is quite possible that in the most 
northern portions of its range both sexes may habitually hibernate. According 
to Eskimo accounts, the female bears are very fat at the time they retire beneath 
the snow. During their extended excursions after prey, the male and the female, 
the latter generally attended by one or two good-sized young ones, keep each other 
company. More are seldom seen together, unless at places where many carcases 
of walruses, seals, or white whales are lying. Formerly the sight of a bear created 
dismay in Arctic travellers, but now the walrus-hunters do not hesitate a moment 
to attack, lance in hand, considerable numbers of bears. The bear’s principal 
food consists of the seal and walrus. There is not the least doubt, continues 
Nordenskiold, “that, along with flesh, the bear also eats vegetable substances, 
as seaweed, grass, and lichens. The flesh of the bear, if he is not too old or has 
not recently eaten putrid seal-flesh, is very eatable, being intermediate in taste 
between pork and beef. The flesh of the young bear is white, and resembles veal.” 
In addition to seals and walruses, the Polar bear also subsists on the flesh of 
certain Cetaceans, and our illustration represents a female carrying a porpoise in 
her mouth. In some districts the Polar bear consumes a large quantity of fish, 
more especially salmon. It is in summer that it resorts to a vegetable diet. 
From the personal experience of Dr. Robert Brown it appears that the ac¬ 
counts given by the older voyagers of the ferocity of the Polar bear were con¬ 
siderably exaggerated, although at close quarters it is a formidable foe. “ Unlike 
its congeners,” writes Dr. Brown, “ it does not hug but bites; and it will not eat 
its prey till it is dead, playing with it like a cat with a mouse. I have known 
several men who, while sitting watching or skinning seals, have had its rough 
hands laid on their shoulders. Their only chance then has been to feign being dead, 
and manage to shoot it while the bear was sitting at a distance watching its 
intended victim. Though Eskimo are often seen who have been scared by it, 
yet, unless attacked or rendered fierce by hunger, it rarely attacks man. During 
our last trip to Greenland none of our party saw one; indeed, they are only 
killed in the vicinity of Disco Bay during the winter or spring, when they 
have either come or drifted south on the ice-floes.” 
Much the same account is given by Mr. G. S. M‘Tavish, of the Hudson’s Bay 
Company, who states that in his district it is only occasionally that a Polar bear 
will attack first. This observer writes that “ although the Polar bear is synony¬ 
mously termed the white bear, they are not all white. Those that are most likely 
to run away from the hunter are pure white. From the smallest to the largest 
size these white bears are timid, and I have noticed, on their being killed, they are 
the fattest. The most dangerous and aggressive kinds, other than females with 
cubs, is the large-sized male bear of a yellowish, dirty colour. . . . Another sort is 
the small-sized bear, of both sexes, neither white nor yellow, but rather dirty - 
looking ; and these are likewise the best runners.” 
Mr. M'Tavish proceeds to observe that the pace of a Polar bear is considerable, 
and that he has known instances where they have overtaken and killed Indians in 
a fair chase. Their fleetness depends, however, largely upon their condition at 
the time, the thinner they are the greater being their speed. The weight of a large 
and fat Polar bear is estimated at from 600 to 700 lbs. 
