32 NATURAL HISTORY ESSAYS 



and other \x\\zfelidce', the tail, though shortened, is 

 ringed- no lynx has a banded tail. Although some 

 chaus are pale-coloured, others are barred on face 

 and breast ; thus there is a wheel within a wheel, and 

 the chaus the last of the cats is so aberrant and 

 inconstant in markings as to suggest that the species 

 is undergoing evolution in the direction of the lynxes, 

 or at least of the caracal. The temper of the chaus 

 is fierce and courageous ; as a rule it is untameable, 

 and of several which the writer examined in captivity 

 none invited any friendly advances. Wolf has 

 executed a fine plate of this cat ; with blazing eyes 

 and twitching tail it strides out of a brake, carrying 

 a fire-backed pheasant in its mouth. 



The true lynxes, on the other hand, resemble the 

 caracal in the shape of the skull, in their tufted 

 ears, in their longish legs ; the rufous colouration of 

 many individuals, and the variable amount of spotting 

 of the fur, perhaps also indicate affinity. The true 

 lynxes, however, have the face heavily ruffed with 

 a thick whisker not found in the caracal ; their bodies 

 are of much stouter build, and the tail is much 

 shorter ; hence they form quite a distinct group of 

 animals. Again, though the fur is often rufous like 

 the caracal's it is as frequently of a sandy grey 

 (European lynx), isabelline (Thibetan lynx), or dark 

 grey (Canada lynx) ; it may be distinctly dotted all 

 over with small black spots as in the pardine lynx, 

 or streaked in vertical dark lines, as in the fasciated 



