156 FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR 



interior of the forest, and these it probably never leaves except when 

 scarcity of food or the calls of love prompt it to wander to the 

 outskirts. Experienced hunters of the Eastern Ural say that the 

 lynxes not only live in the same locality as the bear, but that they 

 remain in the neighbourhood of the bear's winter-quarters after he 

 has gone to sleep. They assert, moreover, that the preference the 

 lynxes show for these winter-quarters betrays the bears, since search 

 has only to be made where most lynx-tracks cross, and especially 

 where there is a circular track, for that always surrounds a bear's 

 sleeping-place. The lynx's habit of keeping to his old paths with 

 almost anxious carefulness must greatly facilitate the discovery of 

 the bear's quarters. Moreover, it may be added that in Siberia the 

 lynxes show themselves very fond of fresh meat, and that they 

 possibly seek the neighbourhood of a bear in the hope of occasion- 

 ally sharing his booty. For, although it may be urged that the 

 lynx is able enough on his own account to bring down big game 

 without any help from so doubtful a friend as the bear, and that he 

 hunts the reindeer and the roe, and may in a short time overpower 

 them, yet the fact remains that his booty chiefly consists of small 

 animals, such as hares, ground-squirrels, tree-squirrels, black-cock, 

 capercaillie, hazel-grouse, young birds, mice, and the like. Of this 

 there is no doubt, and it explains satisfactorily why the lynx is so 

 rare in the fringes of the forest which are accessible to man. As 

 long as squirrels and game birds abound in the interior of the 

 forest, the lynx has no temptation to stray from this unvisited 

 wilderness; when his prey migrates, he is forced to follow. How 

 much he is feared by the game birds one can discern from the fact 

 that every wooing capercaillie or black-cock is instantaneously 

 dumb when a lynx lets himself be heard. 



Both immigrants and natives hold the hunting of the lynx to 

 be right noble sport. This proud cat's rarity, caution, agility, and 

 powers of defence raise the enthusiasm of every sportsman, and 

 both skin and flesh are of no small value. The former is preferably 

 sent from West Siberia to China, where it fetches a good price; the 

 latter, when roasted, is highly esteemed not only by the Mongolian 

 peoples but also by most of the Russian settlers. The lynx is but 



