12 AN AMERICAN HUNTER 



lynx (which he usually calls " link," feeling dimly that 

 the other pronunciation is a plural), he means a lucivee. 

 Bobcat is a good distinctive name, and it is one which 

 I think the book people might with advantage adopt; 

 for wild-cat, which is the name given to the small lynx 

 in the East, is already pre-empted by the true wild-cat 

 of Europe. Like all people of European descent who 

 have gone into strange lands, we Americans have christ- 

 ened our wild beasts with a fine disregard for their 

 specific and generic relations. We called the bison 

 " buffalo " as long as it existed, and we still call the big 

 stag an " elk," instead of using for it the excellent term 

 wapiti; on the other hand, to the true elk and the rein- 

 deer we gave the new names moose and caribou ex- 

 cellent names, too, by the way. The prong buck is always 

 called antelope, though it is not an antelope at all; and 

 the white goat is not a goat ; while the distinctive name of 

 " bighorn " is rarely used for the mountain sheep. In 

 most cases, however, it is mere pedantry to try to upset 

 popular custom in such matters; and where, as with the 

 bobcat, a perfectly good name is taken, it would be better 

 for scientific men to adopt it. I may add that in this 

 particular of nomenclature we are no worse sinners than 

 other people. The English in Ceylon, the English and 

 Dutch in South Africa, and the Spanish in South Amer- 

 ica, have all shown the same genius for misnaming beasts 

 and birds. 



Bobcats were very numerous where we were hunting. 

 They fed chiefly upon the rabbits, which fairly swarmed; 

 mostly cotton-tails, but a few jacks. Contrary to the 



