Canada Lynx 699 



These, then, are the conclusions presented: 



{a) The Lynx population rises and falls in cycles of about 

 ten years, and when at its maximum may be as much as ten- 

 fold the minimum. 



{h) There is no evidence that the decrease is due to epi- 

 demic disease. 



{c) There is evidence of local migrations, but not of a 

 kind to explain the great changes. 



{(1) After studying the problem on the ground, I feel no 

 doubt that the decrease is due to starvation through failure of 

 the Rabbits; and the story is grimly and silently told by 

 frequent wasted bodies exposed in the woods when spring- 

 time melts the snow, as I myself witnessed on the upper waters 

 of the Mackenzie in the summer of 1907. 



The fur of the Lynx is a staple of North-western trade, fur 

 The number annually exported by the Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany has long oscillated between 4,000 and 75,000; 1896 was 

 a high-water year, the export being 56,407; 1900 was the low 

 ebb, the number having fallen to 4,473; since then the usual 

 increase has continued, and 1905 must have been near high 

 tide, for in the 1906 sales the Hudson's Bay Company had 

 58,791 skins. At the previous sale Lampson's disposed of 

 21,521 skins, or, in round numbers, 80,000 skins were taken 

 in 1905. 



Poland's lists,'" however, show that the other American fur 

 companies collect about 7,000 per annum, with little variation, 

 and that, taking the whole continent, an average of about 

 30,000 Lynx are killed each year for their fur. 



At the London annual fur sales held at C. M. Lampson's 

 in March, 1906, 7,737 Lynx skins were sold. The highest 

 prices realized were 60 shillings (^14.40) each for 4 superb 

 'blue' skins; 30 shillings to 35 shillings (^7.20 to ^8.40) were 

 more usual prices for first-class skins, from which they graded 

 down to about 10 shillings ($2.40) for those of third-class. 



" Fur-bearing Animals, London, 1892. 



