CATS. II 



States. On the Mackenzie River it is found as far north as latitude 

 66° and it inhabits the mountains of Western America ; it occurs 

 at least as far south as Fort Tejon, California, where specimens 

 have been taken. Like many other truly northern species, it is 

 found much farther south among the high mountains of the West, 

 than on the Eastern side of the continent. The Canada Lynx is 

 about forty inches in total length. The tail is very short and 

 stumpy. The animal is wholly of a pale grey color with the excep- 

 tion of the tip of the tail and the extremities of the ears, which are 

 black. The feet are enormous and are densely furred. Alto- 

 gether the animal presents a very savage appearance, but it is 

 really very timid, and will always avoid an encounter even with, a 

 small dog. In its habits it resembles closely the Bay Lynx. The 

 Canada Lynx brings forth two or three young in the spring. It 

 breeds but once a year. 



The three species referred to above are not to be regarded as 

 game animals They nowhere exist in sufficient numbers to make 

 it worth while to hunt them systematically, and almost all that are 

 taken, are secured by means of traps or poison. Occasionally, it 

 is true, the hunter may happen on one when seeking for game, or 

 the angler while following a stream may start one from the brush 

 or from a tr^e which overhangs the brook, but in such cases they 

 are gone almost as soon as seen, and rarely give one time to shoot 

 at them. Those that are killed with firearms are generally treed by 

 dogs which «re hunting bears, coons, or foxes, and are shot by 

 the hunters who are following the dogs. There is no danger in 

 any of these animals unless wounded or cornered ; an enraged cat: 

 however, is by no means a contemptible antagonist, and the hunter 

 should keep clear of its claws. Instances are on record of the 

 death of more than one man who has pu himself in the way of 

 a wild cat, and of course the panther is nore dangerous by as 

 much as he is larger. 



tearing them to pieces in a few minutes' time. On one occasion, in the 

 Utc country of Colorado, a mountain lion chased a mastiff down the 

 mountain side into the camp, right through the encampment and 

 around the haggage wagons. In July, 1878, the writer had an encounter 

 with one in North Park, Colorado, fully as large as the average African 

 Lion. 



