22 



ORDERS OF MAMMALS— FLESH-EATERS 



spotted coat is more common, and occasionally 



the spots are strongly marked all over the animal. 



The face of the Bay Lynx is really very beauti- 



Photo, and copyright by W. L. Underwood, 1902. 

 BAY LYNX. 



fill, and when not too fat from overfeeding in 

 captivity, the body is lithe and graceful. When 

 kept in large cages in the open air and sunlight, 

 sheltered from storms, and not overfed, this ani- 

 mal is easily kept in fine condition. In artificially 

 heated buildings they do not thrive. 



This species is found in nearly all the states 

 east of the Mississippi which contain large areas 

 of rough forests, but are most numerous in Maine, 

 the Carolinas, Florida, Virginia and Tennessee. 

 In the "bad-lands" and mountains of Montana, 

 Wyoming, Colorado and Texas they are really 

 numerous, and feed luxuriously on the cotton- 

 tail rabbits that are now so abundant in that re- 

 gion. Varieties of this species extend westward 

 to the Pacific coast states. East of the Missis- 

 sippi River, an average of about twenty speci- 

 mens are caught alive each year, and offered for 

 sale. Their value when caught is $10 each, and 

 the supply exceeds the demand. 



By measurement the Red Lynx is fully as 

 large as the Canada lynx. The largest speci- 

 men that ever came into my hands (on Pryor 

 Creek, Montana) measured in length of head and 



body 31 inches, tail 7 inches, height at shoulder 

 18 inches, and weighed 18 pounds. The largest 

 of nine specimens killed by Mr. Roosevelt's party 

 in Routt Co., Colorado, in 1901, weighed 39 

 pounds. One killed near Asheville, North Caro- 

 lina, in 1900, is reported to have weighed 51 

 pounds. 



No lynxes are found in the lowlands of the 

 tropics, or in South America. 



THE DOG FAMILY. 



Canidae. 



Of all the wild creatures of North America, 

 none are more despicable than wolves. There 

 is no depth of meanness, treachery or cruelty to 

 which they do not cheerfully descend. They are 

 the only animals on earth which make a regular 

 practice of killing and devouring their wounded 

 companions, and eating their own dead. I once 

 knew a male wolf to kill and half devour his fe- 

 male cage-mate, with whom he had lived a year. 



In captivity, no matter how well yarded, well 

 fed or comfortable, a wolf will watch and coax 

 for hours to induce a neighbor in the next cage 

 to thrust through tail or paw, so that he may 

 instantly seize and chew it off, without mercy. 

 But in the face of foes capable of defence, even 

 gray wolves are rank cowards, and unless cor- 

 nered in a den, will not even stop to fight for 

 their own cubs. 



GRAY WOLF. 



The Gray Wolf, or Timber Wolf, 1 is really a 

 formidable animal, but in its dealings with men, 

 1 Ca'nis oc-ci-dcn-tal'is. 



