142 CANADA LYNX. 



it would relinquish the prize," (See Hearne's Journey, p. 372.) Young 

 fawns, as we have ourselves ascertained, are killed by these animals, and 

 farmers in some of the wilder portions of our Northern States, and of Ca- 

 nada, complain of their carrying off their lambs and pigs. The Canada 

 Lynx is, however, by no means so great a depredator in the vicinity of 

 the farm-yard, as the wild-cat or Bay lynx, as his more retired habits in- 

 cline him to keep in the deepest recesses of the forests — and besides, for 

 aught we know, he may prefer " game " to " pigs and poultry." 



The slow multiplication of this species proves that it is not intended 

 to be abundant, but to exist only in such moderate numbers as are neces- 

 sary to enable it to play its part with other carnivora in preventing too 

 fast an increase of many of the smaller animals and birds ; if the hare, 

 the squirrel, the rat, and all the graminivorous quadrupeds and birds were 

 allowed to increase their species without being pre3'ed upon by the owl, 

 the hawk, the fox, the lynx, and other enemies, the grass would be cut off, 

 and the seeds of plants destroyed, so that the larger animals would find 

 no subsistence, and in time, from the destruction of the seeds by the teeth 

 of the rodentia, the forest itself would become a wide desert. 



There is then a meaning in this arrangement of Providence ; and the 

 more w^e investigate the vi'orks of Him ■who hath created nothing in vain, 

 the more we are led to admire the wisdom of His designs. 



GEOGKAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 



The Canada Lynx is a northern species — it is known to exist north of 

 the great Lakes eastward of the Rocky Mountains ; it is found on the 

 Mackenzie river as far north as latitude 66°. It exists in Labrador, and 

 in Canada. It still occurs, although very sparingly, in some of the New 

 England States. It is occasionally met with in the northern part of New 

 York. We heard of one having been taken some fifteen years ago in the 

 mountains of Pennsylvania. Farther south, we have not traced it. It is 

 not found in Kentucky, or in the valley of the Mississippi. Westward of 

 that river it does not appear to exist. There are Lynxes between the 

 Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean ; these seem, however, to be the 

 Bay lynx, or a species so nearly resembling the latter, that they appear to 

 be no more than one of its numerous varieties. There is a specimen in 

 the Museum of the Zoological Society of London, marked F. horealis, 

 which is stated to have been brought from California by Douglass, which 

 we did not see, having somehow overlooked it. Its characters and history 

 deserve investigation. 



