30 Life in the Open 



pounds ; there are two distinct forms here recognised 

 by hunters. I have seen a large lynx, a tall, long- 

 legged, scrawny creature, that could run like a deer and 

 was treed with difficulty. It had tassels to its ears, and 

 the fur on its cheeks was very long or pronounced, 

 while another has more the appearance of a large, 

 overgrown domestic cat, yet with tassels and beard. 



The red lynx, Lynx rufus, is found across the con- 

 tinent to California and into Texas. It has short red- 

 dish hair, while the spotted lynx, a larger form, has a 

 striking spotted coat, and ranges all through Southern 

 California and down into Mexico. This lynx is a 

 powerful and savage animal. I have seen one for a few 

 moments fight off a pack of hounds, lacerating them 

 badly ; and when I saw one coming from a tree in my 

 direction I always gave it the right of way. They are 

 very uncertain game ; no rule can be applied to them. 

 Some tree repeatedly, and I have worked nearly half a 

 day on a lynx in an oak grove, the animal repeatedly 

 ascending trees and refusing to run. Again in the same 

 Caflada Valley I have seen a large lynx leap from an oak 

 and deliberately take to the open in a long run of mar- 

 vellous speed. 



The Valley Hunt Club of Pasadena maintained a pack 

 of greyhounds and a pack of foxhounds for many years, 

 the latter being used for lynx-hunting almost exclusively, 

 not being fast enough to run down a coyote in the open 

 country. The pack was a gift of Dr. F. F. Rowland, who 

 brought them to California from the Rose Tree Hunt of 



