T)OBCAT is the name by which the wild cats of the genus 

 -"-^ Lynx are known in most of the United States, particu- 

 larly the warmer parts — West and Southwest. Though 

 related to the mountain lion, or cougar, both being members 

 •of the same family, the bobcat is a much smaller animal and 

 of somewhat different habits, so far as the selection of prey 

 is concerned. Its larger cousin, the Canada lynx, is found 

 in the northern, more forested, parts of the United States 

 and in Canada. The economic relations of the two are 

 similar, except as forest-dwelling habits are modified by the 

 bobcat's environment of plains and deserts in the Southwest. 



The bobcat has keen eyesight and a good sense of smell, 

 though the latter is not so acute as in the wolf or the coyote. 

 Most of its hunting for food is done at night, and the animal 

 is aided by sight rather than by scent. The advance of 

 settlement and the occupation of the bobcat's former ranges 

 for stock raising have not so much crowded back this preda- 

 tor as they have given it a new and satisfying provender, 

 particularly in the young of the flocks and herds of the 

 stockman and the poultry of the farmer. Control of its 

 depredations at times becomes necessary to man's economic 

 welfare. 



This circular supersedes Leaflet 78, issued in June 1931 

 by the U. S. Department of Agriculture — a contribution of 

 the Bureau of Biological Survey, which was consolidated in 

 1940 with the Bureau of Fisheries to form the Fish and 

 Wildlife Service, U. S. Department of the Interior. 



