. The American natural history : a foundation of useful knowledge of the higher animals of North America . Natural history. 36 OEDEKS OF MAMMALS—FLESH-EATEES In 1874, when Mr. Henry W. Elliott and Lieu- tenant Maynard visited St. Matthew Island, a lonely bit of treeless land in the northern portion of Bering Sea, they found upon it between 250 and 300 Polar Bears! The animals were basking in the warm sunshine, shedding their winter coats, and growing fat on the roots of the plants and mosses that grew there. On one occasion twenty bears were in sight simultaneously. The bears literally overran
. The American natural history : a foundation of useful knowledge of the higher animals of North America . Natural history. 36 OEDEKS OF MAMMALS—FLESH-EATEES In 1874, when Mr. Henry W. Elliott and Lieu- tenant Maynard visited St. Matthew Island, a lonely bit of treeless land in the northern portion of Bering Sea, they found upon it between 250 and 300 Polar Bears! The animals were basking in the warm sunshine, shedding their winter coats, and growing fat on the roots of the plants and mosses that grew there. On one occasion twenty bears were in sight simultaneously. The bears literally overran the island, grazing and. E. R. Sanborn, Photo, N. Y. Zoological Park. POLAR BEAR. rooting about like hogs on a common. They showed no disposition to fight, but always ran when approached. The Polar Bear is a tall animal, with long legs, flat sides, and paws that are very wide and flat. The largest specimen in the New York Zoological Park is 50-? inches in height, 7 feet 2 inches in length, and weighs about 800 pounds. When standing erect on his hind legs, the end of his nose is 8 feet 8 inches from the ground. If prop- erly and comfortably caged, and provided with a swimming pool five feet deep, Polar Bears in the temperate zone do not suffer from the heat of summer, and can endure hot weather fully as well as our black bears. Of course they require shade in summer; but it is not necessary to put ice in their pool to cool the water. The power of this active, warm-blooded animal to resist cold is one of the wonders of Nature. With the temperature many degrees below zero, the Polar Bear cheerfully leaps into the Arctic Ocean, amid the broken ice, and swims for hours. Of all bears, it is the best swimmer, and it dives with great ease. Thanks to the limitations im- posed by the Frost King on hunting in the arctic regions, it is not very probable that the Polar Bear ever will be exterminated by man. The Big Brown Bears. In 1896 the specimens collected by the United States Biologi
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