Quadrupeds. 7771 



it to take refuge in a tree, when it is shot ; yet so tenacious is the 

 death-grip of its powerful claws, that it is sometimes necessary for him 

 to fell the tree in order to obtain the body. 



By the steel-trap : — The gin, covered inside the jaws with a well- 

 fitting " pallet" of birch bark, is placed indifferently either under or 

 upon the snow, and on the pallet a piece of hare-skin, well-rubbed 

 with the "medicine" is tied. The lynx, on scenting his favourite 

 perfume, endeavours to withdraw the skin with his paw, and conse- 

 quently springs the trap. It does not, like most of the other fur 

 animals, drag the trap to a distance or make violent efforts to escape; 

 it generally lies down until aroused by the approach of the hunter, 

 when it endeavours rather to spring at him than to take to flight. 



By the simple snare : — A running-noose of platted sinew, thread or 

 deer-hide thongs, is set in the track that the animal usually follows; 

 this snare is attached to a pole of sufficient weight to toss up the body, 

 and it remains hanging until the hunter passes. The body is some- 

 times found devoured by crows, wolverines and lynx. 



By the medicated cabin : — This is the most efficacious method of 

 catching the lynx. A round enclosure of some three feet in diameter 

 is made of small willows or branches of trees, loosely planted in the 

 snow, and about four feet high. Two entrances are left at the opposite 

 sides, each fitted with a snare. In the centre of the enclosure the 

 medicated skin is placed, inserted in a cleft stick, about eight inches 

 distant from the snow. The snare is more commonly tied to the 

 middle of a loose stick, about 30 inches long by 3 inches in diameter, 

 and which is supported on two pronged branches set on each side of 

 the entrance ; when circumstances are favourable the tossing pole is 

 sometimes used, and it is the most certain fashion. The animal on 

 scenting the castoreum inserts its head, or sometimes its fore foot into 

 the noose, which, owing to the long tips on the lynx's ears, remains 

 securely on the neck when once passed there. After enjoying and 

 rolling itself in the perfume it moves off, but on finding the stick 

 thumping after its heels it becomes alarmed, and makes for the nearest 

 woods ; the stick soon catches in the bushes, and in a short time the 

 animal, instead of cutting the line, strangles itself, or, if caught by the 

 paw, remains fixed until the hunter arrives to give it a coup de grace, if 

 he does not find it already frozen stiff. On some occasions it will gain 

 the top of a lofty tree, and on springing off to rid itself, as it fancies, 

 of the stick it hangs itself in a superior manner, and puts the trapper 

 to the trouble of cutting down the tree, which is generally a large 

 one. 



