THE LYNX. 



8l 



the entire animal is gathered for the onslaught. 

 Soon the opportunity will come. 



Gradually the unsuspecting Kids will arrive 

 beneath the tree, browsing on the tender leaves, 

 or cropping the mossy sward ; and while the 

 playful animals gambol in fancied security, one 

 will be selected from the flock, and then, like a 

 flash, the Lynx will descend upon his victim, 

 tearing it at once with both teeth and claws, and 

 bearing it to the gound, while its more fortunate 

 companions, frightened at the unlooked-for at- 

 tack, scamper away in all directions. 



If not too heavy for him to lift, the Lynx will 

 carry his prey into some thicket where he may 



satisfy his appetite concealed from all eyes, and 

 will emerge once more, when aroused by the pangs 

 of hunger, to seek his victim again from out 

 another ambuscade. 



The negroes of the Southern States, in their 

 picturesque, familiar language, describe the char- 

 acter of the Lynx in the following manner : — A 

 vermin as voracious as a pawn-broker, stingy as 

 a briefless lawyer, wild as a Peccary, and as in- 

 sensible to pain as a Southern planter or a tur- 

 tle. Finally, say they, to shorten the picture, 

 this wild beast is like a woman, because you can- 

 not compare her with any other than herself. 



