202 



ZOOLOGICAL SKETCHES. 



of Lucerne, a travelling inarmottier sold my landlord 'a 

 big mountain-lynx, warranted live and sound, though 

 his temporary cage a plank box with small air-holes 

 did not give him much chance to display his liveli- 

 ness ; but before the landlord paid the money he trans- 

 ferred the prisoner to a big chicken-cage of strong 

 boards and faced with a door of stout woven wire. 

 Darkness seems to cow wild animals, for in his new 

 quarters the lynx soon began to snort around in a way 

 that left no doubt of his warranted qualities : so the 

 bargain was struck, and the Rhaetian exile became a 

 permanent boarder at the Black Bear tavern. 



Some very ingenious bird- and fly-traps have been 

 constructed on the principle that captive animals always 

 try to escape lightwards, probably from an association 

 of daylight with the outer air and liberty. For the first 

 three days our pet concentrated all his efforts upon a 

 certain corner of the door where the meshes were a 

 little larger, and by grim perseverance actually suc- 

 ceeded in breaking one of the wires. But the only 

 point thus gained was a sharp iron prong which lacer- 

 ated his jaws in a frightful way, till the landlord pried 

 the wire out and replaced it by a ten-penny nail. The 

 prisoner then changed his tactics. Somehow the con- 

 duct of his jailers had led him to infer that their object 

 was not to eat and skin him, but to retain him in per- 

 petno for his supposed amiable qualities : so he con- 

 cluded to make himself as disagreeable as possible. 



