326 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



the seventh year would almost invariably witness the maximum trade in lynx 

 skins. The catch of the eighth year would still be good, while that of the ninth 

 and tenth years would show a startling decline in the numbers of lynx taken. In 

 twenty-five years, from 1853 to 1877, the Hudson Bay Company sold, in London, 

 more than half a million lynx skins, the minimum number being 4,488 in 1863 

 and the maximum number 76,556 in 1868. 



The bay lynx {Lynx ritfits), called the wild cat or bob cat, is widely distrib- 

 uted from Maine to Georgia, and westward to the Mississippi Valley. It is 

 widespread and far from extinct. Several fine specimens have been taken within 

 recent years in Tuxedo Park, near New York. This lynx is rather smaller than 

 the preceding species, and is the chat cervier of the Canadians. They were so 

 numerous in the early days that in 17 12 an act was passed offering a large 

 bounty for wild cats in Suffolk County, now the eastern end of Long Island. 

 It may be stated in passing that there are no true long-tailed cats in America 

 north and east of Texas, except the puma, and all stories of "wild cats " may be 

 safely referred to this species. 



Reference need only be made to three rodents, as the remaining Adirondack 

 species of this order are of small size and are far more numerous than all the 

 other mammals taken together. 



Woodd)QC^. 



The northeastern woodchuck, ground hog, whistler or siffleur of the Canadians 

 {Arctomys monax canadensis) has a wide distribution, covering the region from 

 Hudson Bay and Newfoundland westward to the great plains, but is scarce except 

 in the cultivated portions of the Adirondacks. 



There are a number of ill-defined subspecies, but the Adirondack variety 

 belongs to the dark race of the Hudson Bay region rather than to the Maryland 

 form. Its habits are too well known to call for much notice. 



Reaver. 



In former days the most important of the Adirondack fur-bearing animals was 

 the beaver {Castor canadensis), which presents no clearly defined variation in 

 type throughout northeastern America, although the forms in the southern states, 

 in Mexico and on the Pacific Coast are assigned to subspecific rank. Its 



