626 
THE SAVAGE WORLD. 
north America otter (Lutra vulgaris). 
when the hunters put an end to her suffering and their own sympathetic 
discomfort. 
The polar bear is active and its senses are unusually delicate. It will per¬ 
ceive at once the vicinity 
of seal or salmon, and is 
very successful as a fish¬ 
erman. It generally cap¬ 
tures the salmon and 
other fish by darting 
upon them, but it is more 
ingenious in its seal fish¬ 
ery. It will mark the 
position of the seal and 
then swim under water 
until by coming to the 
surface it can find itself 
directly beneath the un¬ 
suspecting seal. Its 
great endurance and te¬ 
nacity of life render it 
no mean antagonist of 
man. Its claws are short, 
curved slightly, and verjr 
strong. The long, sinewy 
neck supports a small 
head, whose crown is distinguished from its muzzle by no frontal depression. 
Its blade feet are long, out of proportion, and its sole is furred with double 
reference to warmth and 
security of its hold 
upon the ice. The polar 
bear , or nennook , often 
becomes an unwilling 
and somewhat startled 
traveller, as the ice-floes 
float away south and 
carry him along. Deep- 
sea fishing is not what 
he set out for, and hence, 
after an enforced absti¬ 
nence his hunger in¬ 
duces him, upon reach¬ 
ing land, to become a 
depredator, and speedily 
to lose his life at the 
hands of the outraged 
farmer. Whether or EUROPEAN OTTER ( Lutra vulgaris). 
not any but the females 
hibernate is still unknown. It prepares its winter quarters on land, under 
.some rock, where it digs a snow cave. The flesh of the polar bear is said 
