CHAPTER VI. 

 THE LYNXES AND CHEETAHS. 



THE GENUS LYNX— THE PERSIAN LYNX — THE CARACAL— THE EUROPEAN LYNX— THE BOOTED 

 LYNX — THE CANADIAN LYNX — THE AMERICAN WILD-CATS — THE GENUS GEPARDUS — THE 

 CHEETAH OR HUNTING LEOPARD. 



A 



LMOST all naturalists now place the lynx in a separate genus from 

 the cats proper, although in common parlance many lynxes are 

 called cats. In our family of the Felid* the Lynxes form the 



second genus. 



II.— GENUS LYNX. 



The Lynxes are characterized by a large head with tufted ears, a 

 powerful body on long legs, and usually a short tail. All quarters of the 

 globe, except Australia, are blest with Lynxes. They haunt dense, almost 

 impassable forests and thickets, but are found also in steppes and deserts ; 

 they may be regarded as highly developed cats, and are as rapacious as 

 any leopard, and must be classed among the creatures which do more 

 harm than good. Dr. Gray classes together as a genus two small lynxes 

 in which the ear tufts are not developed and the tail hangs down to the 

 heel. One of them is an African, the other an Indian animal, which we 

 prefer to regard as species only. 



THE PERSIAN LYNX. 



The Persian or Marsh Lynx, Lj/nx chaus (Plate X), our first ex- 

 ample ot the Lyncine group, is not unlike the lion in the general tawny 

 hue of its fur, but is extremely variable both in the depth of tint and in 

 certain indistinct markings which prevail upon the body, limbs, and tail. 

 The fur, however, is always more grizzled than that of the lion, and there 

 seem to be in almost every individual certain faint stripes upon the legs 

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