CANADA LYNX 
he can reach with one of his bounds is lost and devoured; if he misses he 
allows the animal to escape, and returns to crouch in his post of observa- 
tion, without showing his disappointment. He is not voracious, but he 
loves warm blood, and this habit makes him imprudent.... If he comes 
upon a flock of goats or sheep, he ap- 
proaches, dragging his belly along the ground 
like a snake, then raises himself with a 
bound, falls on the back of his victim, breaks 
its neck, or cuts its carotids with his teeth, 
and kills it instantly.” In view of these 
traits, which are manifested by American 
examples whenever they are in the neigh- 
borhood of settlements, it is not surprising 
that their extirpation is one of the first duties 
of pioneers. 
Our Canada lynx is now rarely 
seen south of Lake Superior except 
in eastern Quebec and the adjoining 
forests of Maine and New Brunswick; 
but their skins, obtained easily by 
trapping in winter, form one of the 
most profitable items in the season’s 
catch of furs by the Indians of Que- 
bec and the Hudson Bay country. 
On the Pacific side the animal 
comes well south in the high moun- 
tains. Nowhere is it numerous, and 
it varies in abundance from year to 
year according to the local plenty or 
scarcity of food—especially of hares. 
“To the lone hunter who camps Illustrating varietal difference. 
in the dark and gloomy forests it 
seems a very dangerous animal, but in reality it is not so.” 
Nevertheless long-continued hunger will give them extreme 
boldness; and, like their southern cousins, they will at such 
times recklessly pounce even upon the porcupine, get their 
143 
BOBCAT AND CANADA LYNX. 
