“The procedure of the Bear is as follows.
“He proceeds very cautiously towards the black speck, far off on the ice, which he knows to be a Seal. When still a long way from it, he throws himself down and hitches himself along towards his game. The Seal, meanwhile, is taking its naps of about ten seconds each, invariably raising its head and surveying the entire horizon before composing itself again to brief slumber.
“As soon as it raises its head, the Bear ‘talks,’ keeping perfectly still. The Seal, if it sees anything, sees but the head, which it takes for that of another Seal. It sleeps again. Again the Bear hitches himself along, and once more the Seal looks around, only to be ‘talked’ to and again deceived. Thus the pursuit goes on until the Seal is caught, or till it makes its escape, which it seldom does.”
It is remarkable that while this “talk” is going on, the Seal appears to be charmed, raises and shakes its flippers about, rolls over on its side and back, as if delighted, and then lies down to sleep.
Now, the Esquimaux hunters imitate, as nearly as they can, the proceedings of the Bear, but are not so successful. Captain Hall mentions several instances where the native hunter failed even to come within gunshot without alarming the Seal, which instantly plunged into its hole and was lost.
The same author mentions another instance where the Esquimaux hunter has copied the Bear.
When an Esquimaux hunter catches a young Seal, he takes care not to kill it at once, as he wishes to use it as a decoy. He ties a long line round one of the hind flippers, and then drops the little Seal into the hole through the ice by which it enters and leaves the water. The struggles of the young are nearly sure to attract the mother, and when she has discovered its condition the young Seal is cautiously drawn up on the ice. The mother follows, too intent on rescuing her young to think about herself, and, as soon as she is within reach, she is struck with the harpoon.
The Polar Bear, however, preceded the Esquimaux in this mode of hunting. The young Seal lives in a hemispherical dwelling scooped out of the snow, and communicating with the water by means of a hole through the ice. This dwelling will be described and figured when we come to the subject of Architecture.
Finding out, by scent or some other means, the habitation of the young Seal, the Polar Bear leaps upon the snow, bringing his feet together, and with his enormous weight breaking through the roof of the dwelling. He instantly captures the young Seal before it can make its escape. Then, driving the talons of one paw into its hind flipper, he lets it into the hole, and allows it to flounder about in the water. When the mother is attracted to her young, he draws his prey slowly up on the ice. The anxious mother follows, and is at once secured by the talons of the other foot, as is represented in the illustration.