The Arctic bear seldom visits the land; his favourite sojourn is the floating ice-field, and his diet the corpses of whales and seals, or even living Phocæ, which he fearlessly attacks at the impulse of hunger. “On seeing his intended prey,” says Captain Lyon, “he gets quietly into the water, and swims until to leeward of him, from whence, by frequent short dives, he silently makes his approaches, and so arranges his distances 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.”
In cases of urgency the bear does not scruple to make a prey of man, and he is assuredly a formidable antagonist. His dimensions are enormous; he is endowed with prodigious strength. Some individuals have been met with who measured nine to ten feet in length. Their average size is about six feet in length, and about three in height, to the top of the shoulder. Spite of their ferocity, which with them, as with nearly all the Carnivora, is a natural consequence of their appetite, the white bears are sociable in their habits: they frequently wander about in small troops, and those of a family invariably “flock together.” The male, the mother, and their young are united by the ties of an affection which is capable of the most intrepid devotion. The female especially watches over her cubs with the most anxious solicitude, and defends them to the last extremity. Of this philoprogenitiveness a voyager relates what seems to me a truly pathetic example:—
A vessel belonging to a small squadron commanded by Captain Philippe was caught in the Polar ice. One morning, the look-out man signalled the approach of three bears, which were advancing rapidly towards the vessel, attracted by the odour of some seal’s flesh roasted on the previous evening. The three consisted of a she bear and her two cubs. The seamen at a suitable moment fired at the latter, and killed them. The mother was also wounded, but not mortally. It was a spectacle which drew tears from the least susceptible to see the marks of sorrow and tenderness lavished by this poor beast upon her young. She carried to them a piece of the flesh which she had taken possession of, and divided it into two portions, which she placed before them. Seeing that they did not eat, she touched them alternately with her fore-paws, and endeavoured to raise them, uttering at the same time the most lamentable groans. Then she withdrew, halted a few paces, and summoned her little ones by a low sad cry. As they remained insensible to her appeal, she returned to them, moved them anew, smelt them on every side, dragged them some distance, again returned, still moaning and bewailing, licked their wounds, called them; and finally, when assured that they had ceased to live, and understanding what had transpired, she stood half erect by a great effort, turned towards the ship, and gave vent to a roar of agony and rage, an unmistakable imprecation against her murderers. The latter replied with a discharge of musketry. The poor bear fell smitten between her two little ones, and died licking their wounds.
Among other Mammiferous animals belonging to the Polar regions, my space only permits me a brief allusion to the Seal and the Walrus. The Seal (Phoca vitulina) seems to the eye a compound of the fish and the quadruped; having the tail of the former, the head, spine, and body of the latter. Its physiognomy is remarkable for its peculiarly mild and intelligent expression. Its elongated, conical body tapers from the shoulders to the tail. Its feet are of singular construction. They are covered with a membrane, and so united to the body that they might be mistaken for fins, but for the sharp strong claws that terminate them.
Seals swim with great rapidity, and can remain under water for a considerable period. The species are very numerous. The Greenland or Harp Seal (Phoca Greenlandica) measures about six feet in length. The Bearded Seal (P. barbata) is from seven to ten feet long. The largest known species is the Elephant Seal or Sea-Elephant (Macrorhinus proboscideus), whose girth at the largest part of the body is from fifteen to eighteen feet, and its length from twenty-five to thirty feet. It is a native of the Antarctic Seas. The Sea-Lion (Platyrhynchus leoninus), so called from its long full mane, inhabits both the northern and southern coasts of the Pacific. The Sea-Bear (Arctocephalus ursinus) derives its name from the fur and shape of the head.
The Walrus or Morse (Trichecus) is a genus of the Phocidæ, or Seal family, distinguished by its widely different cranium and teeth. In the adult lower jaw are neither incisors nor canines, while the upper bristles with two enormous tusks, which are directed downwards, and are sometimes two feet long. It chiefly feeds upon molluscs and marine vegetables, and its flesh in its turn affords a dainty repast to the inhabitants of the Polar Deserts.
