92 
According to Fabricius, their time of 
parturition is in the winter* and their 
number of young at a birth seldom ex¬ 
ceeds two. At this period, if on land, 
they make to themselves large dens in 
the snow; but they frequently bring 
forth in some of those vast caverns so 
often found in the huge masses of packed 
ice. Their attachment to their offspring 
is remarkably great. When mortally 
wounded, they will take their little cubs 
under their paws, embrace, and bemoan 
them with their latest breath. 
Polar bears are equally at home by 
land and by sea, where they swim with 
great strength and agility; they also 
dive, but cannot remain long under wa¬ 
ter. As if impatient of rest, they are 
frequently seen passing from one island 
of ice to another, and are often met with 
at a great distance from land. They are 
frequently drifted into Iceland and Nor¬ 
way, where, from the extreme hunger 
