MAMMALS. 81 



their growing appetites, require the slaughter of a hirge quantity of 

 game. As the lions are almost never seen except by hunters, their 

 contribution to the interest of the park is negligible, and some 

 effective means should be taken for their destruction. 



Canada Lynx : Lynx canadensis Kerr. — These short-tailed, tas- 

 sel-eared, big-footed cats are more or less common throughout the 

 Glacier Park region. Their actual weight is usually no more than 

 that of the large northern bobcat, but owing to their longer legs and 

 longer fur they have the appearance of being much larger. A large 

 one taken b}^ Stevenson weighed 28 pounds. They are readily dis- 

 tinguished from the bobcat not only by the large feet, long legs, and 

 light gray color, but most infallibly by the solid black tip of the short 

 tall. 



Their range covers the whole park region, especially in the timber 

 and brushy areas where tlie snowshoe rabbits abound. In 1895 I 

 found their tracks in the woods about St. Mary Lake, and one was 

 caught near timberline, just north of the lake, in a bear trap baited 

 Avith mountain sheep. Don Stevenson, who has trapped and shot 

 many of them in the area now' comprised in the Glacier Park, says 

 he has never known of their killing any game larger than snowshoe 

 rabbits and grouse. He says also that he has heard them make a 

 cry not unlike a 3'oung puppy in distress. Park Eanger Gibb and 

 Park Guide Gird, who trapped in this region before it was made 

 a park and have been familiar with the country ever since, also report 

 the lynx as common, and J. E. Lewis, at Lake McDonald, tells me 

 that their skins constitute one of the important furs in the catch 

 of the trappers in that region. The animals, however, are rareh' seen 

 by anyone in summer and seldom even in winter by the hunters and 

 trappers, unless caught in traps or their tracks followed on the snow 

 until the animals are forced out of their daj'time concealment. Their 

 hunting is mainly but not entirely at night, and with soft, furry feet, 

 stealthy habits, and owl-like silence, they are expert in keeping out 

 of sight. 



The snowshoe rabbit is their principal game, and with its abund- 

 ance they increase or decrease in a mysterious synchronism that has 

 given them the reputation of being partially migratory. It seems 

 more probable, however, that in years of well-fed vigor they breed 

 and multiply more rapidly, and in lean years, perhaps, fail to breed 

 or even in some cases become so weakened by hunger as to fall prey 

 to disease or enemies. At all events, during years when rabbits are 

 abundant they, too, become abundant, and when there are few rab- 

 bits they are correspondingly scarce. While evidently a great part 

 of their food consists of rabbits, grouse, squirrels, and other sinall 

 game, the fact that they have been found by Charles Sheldon killing 



