THE DESERT LYNX 



{Lynx eremicus) 



Wild cats or desert lynxes are plentifully 

 found over almost the whole desert region of 

 the Southwest. They are especially abundant 

 along the western borders of the desert, where 

 the brushy foothills of the high mountain ranges 

 afford them abundant shelter and a good supply 

 of food. They are such shy and secretive ani- 

 mals that were it not for their occasional 

 depredations upon the fowl yards of settlers, 

 and their getting into traps set for them by 

 trappers, we should scarcely ever know they 

 were about. They are out very little in the day- 

 time, preferring to do their hunting during the 

 early evening and night hours. I was, some 

 months ago, camping near a water-hole on the 

 Colorado Desert, and every evening at dusk I 

 observed a mother lynx coming down onto the 

 little grass plot near the spring. As long as I 

 was perfectly quiet, she would sit still and watch 

 me, but the moment I made a sudden move she 



