THE LYNX. 431 



The Catamount common to California, Arizona, Mexico, 

 and Texas is similar to the other varieties, excepting that 

 it has longer ears and dark lines along the sides of the 

 neck. 



The Red Cat is also similar, and has a very heavy and 

 soft coat; the back being of a rich chestnut-brown. 



The Canada Lynx is the largest and heaviest of all 

 American species. It has larger feet and limbs; the neck 

 has a pointed ruff on each side; tail short, well covered 

 with fur; claws strong and white. 



In some climates the color is almost white, but is usually 

 a dark -gray, tinged with chestnut, the limbs being darker 

 than the body. Back and elbow-joints are mottled, blotched 

 with large, indistinct blotches of darker color— hairs white 

 at extremities; ears tufted, and penciled at the tips with 

 black. The feet being large, and limbs powerful and well 

 clothed with hair, give the animal a general aspect of 

 clumsiness. 



When leaping over the ground, as it does in a series of 

 successive bounds, with back arched, the tail so short as to 

 be almost indiscernible, it presents altogether a quaint, 

 weird appearance, which has been described by many 

 hunters and backwoodsmen as laughable and i:)eculiar in the 

 extreme — some of them imagining it to resemble a ghost; 

 but how a ghost really does look, in life or death, is more 

 than I can conjecture, never having seen one. 



The Canada Lynx is not very tenacious of life — a slight 

 blow on the back, or base of the skull, with a club, or a shot 

 from a small-caliber rifle, being sufficient to readily kill 

 him. 



As accuracy in a rifle is the main desideratum, the small- 

 bores are preferable as weapons for hunting the Lynx, he 

 being an extremely wary and timid animal, nnd possessing 

 the faculty of concealment to a wonderful degree. He will, 

 like the Cougar, hide himself on a small limb, flattening 

 himself out thereon so that he is almost concealed; and only 

 the most vigilant and well-trained eye can discover him. 

 His coat closely resembling, in color, his hiding-place, he is 



