7770 Quadrupeds. 



opponent to any animal that it encounters. In its habits it is pre- 

 datory. Hares and mice il devours with avidity; birds it pursues to 

 the tops of the loftiest trees, and it even kills fish in their own element ; 

 while it has no objection to carrion, and, when pressed by hunger, will 

 even eat its own kind. Tales of the ferocity of this animal have been 

 told by the early writers, of its attacking and mastering deer, but 

 they are without foundation. It is a solitary beast, and 1 should con- 

 sider its unaided strength perfectly incompetent for such a purpose. 



In its motions, though very active, the lynx is rather an ungainly 

 animal. Its favourite pace is a succession of long leaps, much in the 

 manner of the American hare {Lepus americanus), which it also 

 slightly resembles in shape. It is stupid and easily caught. A sudden 

 and loud cry from the hunter pursuing it is sufficient to arrest its 

 course for a time long enough to permit him to fire, and sometimes 

 several shots are obtained at the same animal in this manner. It is 

 easily killed, a not very heavy blow being sufficient to fracture its 

 skull. 



The colour of the fur varies much with the seasons. In winter the 

 hair is thick, long and silky. The gray markings are of a dark silver 

 colour, while the rufous under shade is scarcely observable. In some 

 specimens the dark stripe down the back would not disgrace a silver 

 fox. In summer it wears a rusty look, the hair is short and thin, and 

 there is more rufous and little of the silvery gray in the tints, while the 

 skin is marked with black spots, which serve to distinguish a prime 

 from a common fur in trading with the natives. These spots appear 

 generally in April and disappear in November. 



The lynx is found all over this district, in greater or lesser numbers, 

 wherever there are trees, even within the Arctic Circle. It is subject, 

 like most of the other fur animals, to periodical migrations, which ap- 

 pear to occur with great regularity in periods of ten years, and which 

 in its case depends on the hare, its principal food. One of the most 

 curious of the idiosyncrasies of this animal is its passion for perfumes, 

 and particularly for the odour of castoreLuu, which forms the basis of 

 all the " medicines " used by trappers in effecting the capture of the 

 lynx. 



There are four methods in which the death or capture of the lynx 

 is effected, — by hunting, by the use of the steel-trap or gin, by the 

 simple snare, and by the medicated cabin, — all of which I shall pass 

 briefly in review. 



By hunting : — In this method the hunter pursues the animal, gene- 

 rally aided by a dog, and follows its track in the snow until he forces 



