692 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



and for a few moments the fur flew right and left. Then a 

 short pause followed and the fight was renewed. A second 

 pause ensued, and after the two had glared at one another for 

 a few moments they slowly withdrew in opposite directions, 

 the hair on each bristling defiance, but each apparently satisfied 

 to close accounts.' This Lynx was probably weakened by 

 hunger, for a vigorous Lynx is certainly more than a match 

 for a Fox." 



In this case, I suspect further, that there was very little 

 snow. The Lynx, mounted on his wonderful snow-shoes, has 

 a sovereign advantage when the snow is deep enough to 

 embarrass a Fox. In fact, the Lynx plays crust-hunter, while 

 the Fox flounders helplessly in treacherous drifts. 



In my early days about Lindsay, Ont., I several times 

 heard of farmers losing Iambs or even small pigs through 

 the attacks of Lynxes; and fawns were believed to be com- 

 monly their prey. But the hunters were divided as to whether 

 a Lynx would attack any creature so large as a full-grown 

 Deer. 



DEER- One of our best naturalists writes:'* "We have heard one 



or two accounts of the Canada Lynx having killed a Deer; 

 we are somewhat sceptical in regard to this being a general 

 habit of the species, although when pressed by hunger, which 

 renders all creatures desperate at times, it may occasionally 

 venture to attack a large animal." 



Linklater claims that he has conclusive evidence in point. 

 At Green Lake, Algoma (H. B. Post), he once found the 

 remains of a Deer on the ice with no tracks but those of one 

 Lynx about it. The Deer was a two-year-old. He is satisfied 

 that it was killed by the Lynx. 



In September, 1901, while camped in the Colorado 

 Mountains, where the Deer and Lynxes both were abundant, 

 my guide, Charles Erickson, told me of another case. About 

 five years before, A. E. Muckey was hunting a band of Black- 

 tails in the snow among the cedar brakes, between the mouth 



" Bachman, Q. N. A., 1849, Vol. I, p. 141. 



