688 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



the admirable adaptation of its feet as snow-shoes. Ahhough 

 its weight be 30 or 40 pounds, its feet are so large and so 

 spread with stiff hairs that it walks lightly on soft drifts 

 where a dog would flounder in utter helplessness. As it 

 rambles through the woods it usually walks every log it comes 

 to. Sometimes, in the midst of a slow walk, it will spring for- 

 ward 12 or 15 feet, apparently without any object other than 

 a wish to see how far it can jump. 



RUNNING Although a creature of superb activity among matted 



branches and labyrinthine logs or underbrush, the Lynx is 

 surprisingly slow on the level ground. 



The cowboys of New Mexico on their ponies could catch 

 a Bay-lynx in the open within half a mile, even though it had 

 a quarter-mile start. Not only will any common cur dog 

 overtake a Canada Lynx within a few hundred yards, but even 

 a man who is speedy can run it down in open country, as 

 attested by Alexander Henry. In speaking of Le Boeuf, a 

 famous Indian hunter and runner on the Red River, he says:" 



"He came in to-day with a Loup-cervier that he had 

 caught in the plains in a fair chase and killed with his small 

 axe; he certainly is an extraordinary runner. He is a tall man, 

 spare and lean, of a mild disposition, but wicked when provoked 

 to anger." 



During my journey to the Far North in 1907, I often 

 heard of such exploits on the part of hunters, and at length, on 

 Great Slave Lake, was eye-witness of this very achievement. 



SWIM- On the other hand, the Lynx seems very much at home 



in the water. The garrulous and ever-entertaining Henry 

 says, in his Red River Journal, April 22, 1804:'- "Caught 15 

 sturgeons and a Loup-cervier; how the latter came into the 

 sturgeon net I cannot say. We saw his track on the beach 

 until he came opposite the net, which completely crossed the 

 river; he appeared to have then taken to the water, for what 



" Red River, November 2, 1802, Journal A. Henrj', 1897, p. 206. 

 "■ P. 242. 



