HAUNTS. 3 



jeopardized, man he never assails ; but when he does charge, 

 his onsets are described as somewhat desperate. His prin- 

 cipal weapons are his claws. " When attacked by a dog," 

 Pontoppidan tells us, " he throws himself immediately upon 

 his back in the manner of a cat, and turns up his forelegs, to 

 be the better able to defend himself: the dog on this lays 

 hold, and thinks himself conqueror ; but the lynx then 

 makes use of his sharp talons so effectually, that he flays the 

 enemy alive." 



The favourite haunts of the lynx are mountainous and 

 deeply wooded districts, in the hidden recesses of which he 

 is less subject to persecution, and can more readily pounce 

 on his prey. Except during the pairing season, when 

 the male seeks far and near for a mate, he is not a great 

 wanderer at least in the summer time, when there is 

 greater facility in procuring food. The line of country he 

 hunts over is not very extensive ; and it is not until he 

 has destroyed nearly all the game upon his beat that he 

 removes to another, where in like manner he only remains 

 so long as prey is to be found. The singular notion is 

 entertained by some, that when the lynx thus shifts his 

 hunting-ground, the migration, if so it can be called, always 

 takes place either at the end of the last quarter of the old 

 moon, or at the commencement of the new; and that, 

 should he return again to the same district, it is never 

 within less time than a month. 



The lynx is not, like the wolf, gregarious. A pair male 

 and female generally keep together, and the mother is often 

 followed by her cubs ; which, indeed, generally remain with 

 her until nearly arrived at maturity ; but otherwise these 

 animals never congregate. The male and female are said 



B 2 





