696 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



cesspool department, and wild Lynxes are said to bury their 

 dung like cats, but of this I have no conclusive evidence. 



CURIOUS An interesting kind of commensalism has been noted in 



PARTNER- • 



SHIPS the Lynx life. Linklater tells me that he has seen a horned 

 owl and a Lynx together working a Rabbit woods, the owl 

 hovering around the outskirts to pick up the Rabbits as the 

 Lynx routed them out. Of course, in this case we must sup- 

 pose that the owl was a parasite that the Lynx was helping 

 unwittingly. But the same sort of thing is seen with various 

 hawks; nor do they follow only the four-legged hunters, but 

 will impudently try to utilize the terror spread by the gunner 

 and sometimes, forgetting themselves, come within range, to be 

 added to the common bag. 



USE TO This animal is very easily caught by any of the usual 



methods of fur-taking, therefore the simplest — the snare — is 

 most in use. In trapping it the half-breeds often use a lure 

 or charm made of beaver-musk, oil of rhodium, asafoetida, 

 and filings from the corn on the inside of a horse's front-leg. 

 How far the practice is founded on mere superstition I can- 

 not say. 



This bait is set on a forked stick surrounded bya little fence 

 with one opening. At the opening a noose of wire or cord is set 

 1 8 inches from the ground and fast to a short, thick stick. A 

 Lynx coming to sniff the lure is caught in the noose; it tightens 

 as he retires. He tugs till he is strangled, or, climbing a tree 

 to get rid of it, he is hanged through the crosspiece catching 

 in the branches. 



The steel trap and deadfall also are used, and in regions 

 where Lynxes are abundant some hunters keep dogs trained 

 to tree and hold them till the gunner can approach and use 

 his fire-arms. 



FLESH Its flesh is a regular article of diet in the North-west. On 



the occasion when I tried it I found it white and well-flavoured 

 but was debarred — by prejudice, I suppose — from enjoying 



