THE LARGE GAME OP SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. 447 



medicinal properties, and with such remedies, various herbs and 

 roots, bleeding, and other simple specifics, the rural Spaniard 

 relies — perhaps with reason — on giving the medico a wide berth. 

 We have tried lynx, however, approaching the feast with perfectly 

 open mind, and found it fairly good. The flesh was short in 

 grain, white, and devoid of any unpleasant flavour. Without 

 prejudice, a guiso of lynx is as good as one of partridge or veal. 



Lynxes produce their young in April, often using the 

 hollowed trunk of some cavernous cork-tree, or forming a sort 

 of nest on the big branches for the purpose. We have reared 

 the young lynxes from babyhood, and found them at least more 

 docile than the fanatically furious wild-cats: but that is not 

 saying much : for both are impregnated to the marrow with hate 

 and treachery, and eventually these attempts to " civilize " the 

 wild felidce resulted in a tragic finale. For nearly a year we 

 had kept a young female lynx (chained) in the garden : though 

 often vicious and never reliable, she showed some slight " feline 

 amenities " — purring and rubbing herself against one's leg, 

 when petted, like a domestic tabby. But at length she perpe- 

 trated a terrible assault on a poor woman who chanced to pass 

 near her kennel. The brute probably mistook her victim for 

 the woman who daily brought it its food ; and, seeing her pass 

 by, with a sudden tremendous bound she broke her chain, and 

 sprang upon the poor lavcmdera's shoulders, tearing open her 

 face with one claw, her breast with the other. Assistance was 

 luckily at hand, and the savage brute, after a long chase, was 

 killed. The poor woman was desperately hurt : for days her 

 life was in danger, and for many weeks she was obliged to 

 remain in bed under the doctor's care. 



The male lynxes are much larger and handsomer than the 

 females, weighing some 42 to 50 lbs. The ground-colour of 

 both is warm tawny-brown, but on the males the spots are 

 fewer, larger, and more defined. 



Wild-Cat (Felis catus). 



Spanish : Gato month, Gato castellano, or romano. 



As above remarked, the young wild-cats are quite the most 

 ferocious and utterly untameable beasts of which we have had 

 any experience ; the mixture of fear and fury they exhibit in 

 captivity is indescribable, even when only a few weeks old. 



