ALASKAN BEAR. 153

hunters, whose occupation he naturally re-
gards as a catering to his wants. He is also
glad of the whale carcasses often found
floating in the Arctic seas, and travelers
have seen as many as twenty bears busily
discussing the huge body of a dead whale-
bone whale.

“As the Polar bear is able to obtain food
all through the Arctic winter, there is not
the same necessity, as in the case of the
vegetable-eating bears, for hibernating. In
fact, the males and young females roam
about through the whole winter, and only
the older females retire for the season.
These—according to the Eskimo account,
quoted by Captain Lyon—are very fat at
the commencement of winter, and on the
first fall of snow lie down and allow them-
selves to be covered, or else dig a cave in
a drift, and then go to sleep until the
spring, when the cubs are born. By this
time the animal’s heat has melted the snow
for a considerable distance, so that there is
plenty of room for the young ones, who