150 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



same color as on the sides of the body, except the upper half of the 

 inside of the limbs, which is yellowish white, with large irregular bars 

 and blotches. There are also some spots of dusky on the outer sides 

 of the limbs ; soles of the feet and toes naked ; rest of the foot beneath 

 with short, thich, brownish-black fur; tail short and blunted, white beneath 

 and at the tip, with a black patch near the end, and several indistinct 

 transverse bars of brownish-black. Length from nose to root of tail, two 

 feet five inches ; length of tail, five inches. 



Lynx Canadensis, (Rafinesque.) — Canada Lynx. 



This species — the largest of our American lynxes — is now quite rare 

 in this State. It is strictly a northern animal, being seldom found south 

 of New York. It prefers the solitude of the wilderness to the more 

 settled districts, seldom, like the wild cat, robbing the farmer of his 

 poultry, although occasionally a sheep or lamb is charged to his account 

 by the farmer. It is very powerful and active, making, when pursued, 

 prodigious leaps, but generally, if hard pressed, taking to a tree. It breeds 

 but once a year, having but two at a birth. It is occasionally caught in 

 steel traps, and will readily go in almost any trap, so unsuspicious is it. 

 The fine specimen in the State Cabinet furnishes the following 



Description. — Head broad, but not so rounded as the L. rufus ; ears 

 long, pointed, and terminated with tufts of black hairs an inch and a third 

 long ; margins of ears buff; behind each ear is a patch of gray, bordered 

 with black ; this patch is much darker than that of the L. rufus, and 

 the black border less distinct. Fur above, and each side of the head 

 brindled or mixed, grayish hoary, having irregular waving lines of brown- 

 ish-black on the top of the head ; beneath the chin the fur is white, and 

 at the base of the jaws the fur is lengthened into a long ruff at each side ; 

 this ruff is composed of three colors, black, white, and grayish drab. Fur 

 on the body and outer sides of the legs, pale rufous at its base, terminated 

 with black and white, which gives it a hoary appearance ; beneath the 

 body this is lighter, with a number of distinct black blotches on the back, 

 the black hairs predominate in several distinct lines, esijecially towards 

 the rump ; limbs long, the fore-paws veiy wide, the posterior ones 

 exceedingly long, the specimen before me measuring ten inches ; on the 

 outer sides of the legs there are many obscure blotches ; between the 

 legs the fur is buff, with a few obscure blotches on the posterior, and 

 several distinct black spots on the anterior legs ; feet, beneath clothed 

 with dense, buff, hairy fur ; tail, beneath white, above and on each side 

 grayish rufous ; end of the tail for an inch and a half in length, black. 

 Length from nose to root of tail, two feet eleven inches ; length of tail, 

 six inches. 



