034 



AMRRICAN KURRSTRY 



SKULL OF THE DOMESTIC CAT 



In a general way this gives the characteristics of the feline skull 

 from lions to lynxes. 



the habits of lynxes are everywhere much the same, 

 varying only to some extent by their particular surround- 

 ings or as they have been gradually changed by the atti- 

 tude of man toward them. 



Throughout the State of Maine and the Northeast, 

 where lynxes occur, the hunters, guides and a few In- 

 dians call them the Indian devils. 



A writer says that the lynx or "loupcervier has al- 

 ways been considered a harmless, cowardly animal, un- 

 less cornered. He will, however, start the hair upward 

 of the average man with his blood-curdling screeches. 

 They will come within a few rods of a human being in 

 day-time and snarl and spit like an angry house cat. Sev- 

 eral years ago I had one keep me company one June even- 

 ing for nearly a half mile on a 

 lonely road till I reached a knoll 

 where there were plenty of cot)- 

 ble stones, which I hurled with 

 all the energy I possessed, and 

 at that time I was in practice 

 piching ball. After stopping 

 two or three of the missiles my 

 companion took to the woods, 

 and then vented his wrath In 

 squealing. 



"I know of one instance where 

 a family attacked a farmer's 

 flock of sheep and killed about 

 thirty, eight of which were- 

 found when alive with the udder 

 entirely eaten out, which was 

 the manner that all were at- 

 tacked. This, with the robbing 

 of hen roosts, is their chief trait 

 of character while in civiliza- 

 tion." 



Some twenty or more years 

 ago there was a lively di.scussion 



in the sporting magazines of the day. The present writer 

 took part in this when it came to describing the tracks 

 made in the snow by a bob cat and by a lynx, that is in 

 the differences they presented. Mr. Gill Ford also took 

 a hand in this debate and in one of the articles he pub- 

 lished he made comment in words to the effect: "Re- 

 ferring to Dr. Shufeldt's query regarding the visible 

 difference between the tracks of the Lynx rufus and the 

 Lynx canadensis, I will say that I have often heard 

 guides and woodsmen say that a given track belonged 

 to a loupcervier and another track was made by a bob 

 cat, explaining, when questioned, that the foot of the bob 

 cat was more compact and distinct than that of the 

 lynx. On closer examination they have told me that 

 the loupcervier had a quantity of long hair on the sides 

 of its feet, which fell into soft snow when walking, 

 making a blurred outline; the foot of the bob cat, hav- 

 ing none of these filamentary appendages, made a clear 

 impression. My own observation leads me to think the 

 bob cat has a larger and stiffer growth of bristle-like 

 hairs between its toes than its cousin, which may ac- 

 count for the fact that bob cats are often found in clear- 

 ings and near human residences, while the lynx almost 

 invariably keeps to the woods where the winter travel is 

 easier to its feet. 



"As a rule, we old farmers in Maine do not make any 

 distinction between the two species, calling both animals 

 bob cats. The French-Canadians are more observing 

 and nicer in their definitions and term the canadensis 

 species loupcervier (deer wolf), and apply the name of 

 chattecervier (deer cat) to the rufus species. Hunters 

 and fur dealers who size up furs according to their 

 money value, make a sharp distinction in prices, paying 

 about $2.50 for a good pelt from a canadensis, and turn- 

 ing up their noses in disgust when a rufus is mentioned. 



THE LOUP CERVIER 



1 Ins Canadian lyn.x is a northern form of the family, a sub-species of it being found in 

 .Maska. The ancients had a belief that a lynx could see through solid substances, such as 

 wood, hence the expression "lynx-eyed." 



