410 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. 



laughter to be able to shoot the cat, which we saw going off 

 through the woods at full speed. On examination, I found 

 the roots of the great tree had been hollowed far under 

 and beyond the line of vision, and concluded that the shot 

 into the hollow had missed aim, as I found the first animal 

 dead, which I had seen lying from the first. We now called 

 the dogs, which soon traced the fugitive to another hollow 

 tree, from which we smoked it down — as is the practice in 

 taking hares when they are "treed!" — and shot it dead as 

 it sprang out. We found this to be the dam, while the first 

 was a cub just grown. 



It is a somewhat curious commentary upon the nature of 

 these animals, that the cub was found to have been so badly 

 torn by the teeth of the dam as to render its skin useless. 

 I suppose its falling into the den so suddenly and unusually, 

 was the cause of this unnatural act on the part of the mother, 

 who mistook it for some assailant. I have no doubt I should 

 have been badly mutilated by this creature had the incident 

 occurred any where but in this neighborhood, where it had 

 been thoroughly initiated into the terrors of gunpowder and 

 the rifle. 



The genus Lynx is very celebrated in those classic and 

 European legends, which, under th name of facts, have 

 come down to us as Natural History. The metaphor in 

 which a "Lynx's eye" is represented as being able to pierce 

 through stone walls, is familiar to our childhood. From very 

 ancient times, it has been known through curious and various 

 associations. It is a sort of anomaly — neither canine or 

 feline, strictly, but holding an intermediate position both 

 in grade and notoriety. Though it has been much identified 

 with the old world progress and story, yet it is even more 

 intimately connected with the associations of the new world 

 pioneer life. With us, north or south, every body has heard 

 of the Lynx rufus, (or common wild cat,) even though some 

 may have identified it with the Canada Lynx, and others, 



