268 NOKTH AMERICAN FAUNA [No. 55 



combed for their food supply which often includes sheep, deer, and 

 antelope, where such game is to be found. They hunt mainly at 

 night and are silent and little noticed, even where they are as 

 numerous as the more conspicuous coyotes. 



Breeding habits. Four seems to be the usual number of young to 

 a litter, but sometimes there are only 2 or 3, and again 5 or 6, born 

 generally in May or June in dark caverns of the cliffs. 



Food habits. In the examination of 200 stomachs of bobcats from 

 eastern Oregon by the Biological Survey predatory-animal hunters, 

 95 contained rabbits of the 4 common species; 27 contained sheep 

 meat ; 23, sage hens ; 13, mice of various species ; 12, ground squirrels ; 

 8, pine squirrels; 3, deer meat; 3, wood rats; 1, woodchuck; 1, chip- 

 munk, 3, quail; 3, small birds; 2, pheasants; and 1, sharp-tailed 

 grouse. Seven others contained bird feathers and 1 grasshopper. 

 This gives only a part of their food, however, as they are known to 

 take pocket gophers, kangaroo rats, and practically every rodent of 

 the region, besides any kind of poultry whenever it can be obtained. 

 One of the common complaints is that they kill all of the domestic 

 cats introduced at some of the isolated ranches, and it has been gener- 

 ally observed that these Old World cats do not thrive where coyotes 

 and bobcats occur. 



Econ&mic status. Next to the coyote these big cats are the great- 

 est menace to the sheep herds of eastern Oregon, and their destruc- 

 tion of poultry and game birds and mammals makes it necessary to 

 wage constant warfare against them. On the other hand they serve 

 as an important check on overabundance of rodents and wandering 

 house cats, so that total extermination is not desirable, even if it were 

 possible. Their fur value serves in part to limit their abundance, 

 but in the sheep and ranch country it is necessary to reduce their 

 numbers further by employing expert hunters and trappers. 



From October 1, 1913, to December 31, 1914, bounties of $1 each 

 were paid by the State on 5,425 bobcats : 1,039, from Harney County ; 

 595, from Malheur County ; 452, from Lake County ; 409, from Crook 

 County ; 182, from Grant County ; 144, from Wallowa County ; 104, 

 from Baker County; and smaller numbers from other counties in 

 eastern Oregon. These were additional to those taken by the Biolo- 



fical Survey and State hunters and represent but a part of those 

 illed by private individuals. State bounties were then discontinued, 

 and control of predatory animals has since been carried on by expert 

 hunters and trappers employed by the State and the Bureau of Bio- 

 logical Survey. The 410 bobcats taken by Biological Survey hunters 

 in the fiscal year ended June 30, 1930, would indicate sufficient re- 

 duction in numbers to obviate any serious losses to game, livestock, 

 or poultry. 



LYNX RUFUS PALLESCENS MERRIAM 



CASCADE BOBCAT; WAL-KOT-SKA of the Klamath (C. H.M.); E^QUA of the Wasco 



Lynx fasciatus pallescens Merriam, North Amer. Fauna No. 16, p. 104, 1899. 



Type. Collected at Trout Lake, south base of Mount Adams, Wash., by D. N. 

 Kaegi, January 10, 1895. 



General characters. Size and skull as in Lynx rufus fasciatus but general 

 coloration paler, with less black on face, ears, and tail. Winter pelage, upper 

 parts frosted with long white tips of outer hairs over pale tawny, faintly dappled 

 with dusky and brown spots, striped and spotted along middle of back witA 



