62 CANADIAN WILDS. 



name always adhered to, there would be less 

 room for prejudice, but unfortunately it is more 

 frequently called cat. I admit it has all the ap- 

 pearances and manners of the cat, but let some- 

 one, unknown to you, fry some fat cutlets from 

 the ham of a lynx, and fifty to one you Avill rel- 

 ish it as very fine veal and you cannot be con- 

 vinced to the contrary. There again is the por- 

 cupine, I think sometimes known as the hedge- 

 hog. When they are in good condition, nicer 

 or more juicy meat a hunter cannot put his teeth 

 into. When properly prepared and properly 

 cooked, the white mans "rarebit," the suckling 

 pig, cannot prove its points. 



The arctic or snow owl is a bird that gives 

 as fine a flavored flesh, and the same in color 

 and appearance as a fat capon. But where one 

 is set against it, is when served up in Indian 

 fashion, boiled whole, it has then the appear- 

 ance of a young baby, and one would almost 

 have to be a professional cannibal to tackle the 

 object. The thick, plump thighs, the round 

 bald head, makes the appearance to a young in- 

 fant almost startling. However, if one closes 

 his mental eyes to this similitude, the flesh is 

 most toothsome. 



I come now to another that occurs to me as 

 being much despised, that is the festive and 

 highly perfumed skunk. We look on a skunk, 



