THE CARACAL-AFRICAN LYNX 



A Sportsman's Stories About the African Lynx — Tamed Cubs — The Lynx Catching Jack- 

 Rabbits — Its Valuable Fur — It Catches Birds on the Wing — "Lynx-eyed." 



Our ex-President once in awhile happened to come across the East African 

 representative of the lynx family — the caracal. It is a rare chance to meet this 

 animal in day-time, for it comes out of the bush chiefly at night. Once, says a 

 famous hunter, I was watching pygmy antelopes on the velt when I saw, not 

 more than sixty feet from me, a lynx looking out for the same game. I did 

 not mean to let my chance slip and shot it on the spot. 



Another time I was still more fortunate. Not far from my camp on the 

 steppe I had noticed about sixty-four ostriches. As they were marching, I 

 merely observed them with my field glass. One day, however, I could not 

 resist the temptation and decided to shoot a male bird, which I meant to 

 present to the Royal Museum in my native country. I singled out one and, 

 approaching within six hundred feet, fired. The bird flapped its wings and 

 fell. The same moment something began to move within the bush which 

 served me as cover. I was startled and also considerably scared, for I thought 

 I had disturbed the most dangerous of felines — a leopard — in its lair. It was, 

 however, a lynx, which tried to escape, but which fell a victim to the second 

 bullet of my double-barreled rifle. This was luck, indeed ; a fine double shot — 

 an ostrich and a lynx. 



In my various travels I have met and studied no less than twenty species of 

 lynx. The true lynx, that makes its home in Europe and northern Africa, is 

 the best representative of the general class, but the American species have 

 many similar characteristics. 



The body is always marked with small black spots during the summer. In 

 some instances, perhaps in young animals only, these spots continue during 

 the winter. This, however, appears to occur only among the lynxes of 

 Europe; those of Asia having the winter dress without spots, except on the 

 flanks and limbs, while they may be also wanting there. The hairs of the 

 fur vary in color in different parts of their length, and are tipped with black. 

 The ears are gray on the outsides, with black margins, tips, and tufts. Occa- 

 sionally the under-parts of the body are spotted. The length of a full-grown 

 lynx is thirty-three inches, exclusive of the tail, which measures only seven 

 and three-quarters inches ; but the length of the head and body may be upwards 

 of forty inches. 



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