752 A Monograph of the Species of Lynx. [No. 128. 



The Bay Lynx (F. rufa, Guldenstadt ; F. maculosa, Vigors and 

 Horsfield, Zoological Journal; Mississipi Lynx of Buffon, and "Wild 

 Cat" of the United States of North America). Size averaging that of 

 the Pardine Lynx, or smaller than the last species, with mnch shorter 

 fur, and a very full facial ruff, the mouchetures not appearing below it. 

 From nose to base of tail, it measures about two feet and a half, the tail 

 five inches, and height of the back about sixteen inches ; ears an inch 



which are vegetable'feeders to a considerable extent (as indeed are also most Viver- 

 ridcej, abundance of favourable testimony might be collected. Vide Major Lloyd's 

 ' Field Sports of the North of Europe,' II, 46, and the Hon'ble C. A. Murray's 

 ■ Travels in the Western Regions of North America,' II, 59. Even of the fetid Skunk 

 of the latter continent, we are informed, in Carver's Travels (p. 452), that " Eu- 

 ropeans who have fed on them, after the receptacles of the odorous fluid had been 

 carefully extracted, have found them very sweet and good." If this animal be seized 

 and lifted by the tail, it cannot squirt its fluid, and, like other creatures with a sensi- 

 tive nozzle, it is easily killed by a blow on the snout. Formerly it was customary to 

 eat the Otter, on lenten days, for a fish ! 



With regard to Bear's meat, it should, however, be mentioned, that the flesh of the 

 great Polar Bear appears to have sometimes proved decidedly unwholesome ; yet in 

 the Appendix to Capt. Parry's 4th Voyage, it is stated to be " free from any disagree- 

 able taste ; it proved a valuable and timely addition to our stock of provisions, and 

 served materially to restore the strength of the party." Hence it may be suspected 

 that the effects resulting from the use of this aliment, noticed in the narrative of one of 

 Capt. Ross's Voyages, are attributable to some particular food the animal had been eat- 

 ing, or even, possibly, to some adventitious circumstance affecting the tone of the 

 digestive operations in the men. 



Among the Insectivora, Cuv., the respectable editor of the ' Literary Gazette' gives 

 his personal testimony that the flesh of the Hedge-hog is excellent ; and there is a no- 

 tice, in the ' Magazine of Natural History', of a Mole-catcher who was in the habit of 

 eating the Moles he caught, and said that " if folks generally knew how good they 

 were, but few would fall to his share." To cite an instance from among the Edentata, 

 Cuv., the Armadilloes are exceedingly foul feeders ; yet all who have partaken of 

 it agree that one, " roasted in its own shell," is most delicate-eating. 



In the feathered class, I remember that M. Audubon declares, that he has never eaten 

 the flesh of Cormorant, nor, so long as he can help it, will he ever do so, or words to 

 that effect; but M. Schomburgk has assured me that he has frequently eaten of 

 the Cormorant of Guiana, which is really very good, after having been (like other 

 water-fowl) skinned previously to dressing : and very lately a gentleman informed me 

 that he had repeatedly partaken of Anhinga (Plotus), a genus closely allied to 

 that of the Cormorants. Indeed, some London readers must not be too sure that they 

 have not themselves feasted off a plump Cormorant ; for I have been credibly informed 

 of an instance of a man carrying a row of these birds upon a pole through the streets, 

 and seeking to vend them to the Londoners by the familiar cry of " wild Ducks, wild 

 Ducks, oh !" Of the egg of the Cormorant, the same friend has assured me, that 

 he was much surprised to find how good they were ; and there is reason to suspect that 

 any eggs of birds described as otherwise, were none of the freshest when tasted. 



It is said that a Buzzard, and particularly a Pern, or Honey Buzzard, is esteemed 

 an excellent dish in some parts of France. 



