NATURAL HISTORY. 



When a bird or a wild animal is killed, that is the end of it. It photographed, it may still live and its educational 



and scientific value is multiplied indelinitely. 



'BOBCAT OR LYNX? 



Recent numbers of Recreation proved of 

 more than usual interest to me through 

 containing articles on the lynx and the bob- 

 cat. 



I think, however, some of the writers 

 have confused 2 different animals. The 

 author of "The Bobcat's Bannuet," cer- 

 tainly makes a mistake when he calls the 

 animal represented by his excellent photo- 

 graphs a lynx, a wildcat, and a bobcat, as 

 if the 3 were names for the same animal. 



A lynx and a bobcat are different ani- 

 mals. Their color, habits, etc,., are much 

 the same, while their shape is far different. 

 A lynx is long bodied, long legged; a bob- 

 cat is short legged and compactly built. 

 A lynx has large feet entirely covered with 

 hair, making tracks so large that he is 

 sometimes followed by a hunter who thinks 

 he is pursuing a bear. He soon finds out 

 his mistake, for the lynx has a habit of 

 walking on every log and pole in his line 

 of travel. When the hunter sees his sup- 

 posed bear tracks extending the length of a 

 4-inch pole 2 or 3 feet from the ground, 

 his ardor cools, and he damns the "lucifer," 

 for so he pronounces "loupcewier," the 

 lynx's Canadian name. 



Another difference is the shape of the 

 ears. Those of the bobcat are short; those 

 of the lynx are longer and have a tuft of 

 long hairs .on the tips. The bobcat is a 

 heavier animal than the lynx, sometimes 

 weighing over 40 pounds. I have seen one 

 tip the scales at 45, but he was an unusually 

 big fellow. The fur of the lynx is far 

 better than that of the bobcat, and is worth 

 3 or 4 times as much. 



The question as to which animal the 

 writer of the article means would be hard 

 to answer from the description given, but 

 fortunately we have the photographs to aid 

 us, and a study of them will help us de- 

 cide. Examining the pictures we see, in all 

 but the first, a compact, muscular animal. 

 The first photo was taken at the beginning 

 of his feast and that perhaps is why it 

 shows a less chunky animal. We see no 

 long hairs on the ends of his ears, which 

 proves beyond doubt that he is a bobcat; 

 not a lynx,. 



In Maine, lynx are not abundant at pres- 

 ent, though there are some in the Northern 

 part. I never heard of their killing many 

 deer ; but the bobcat, which is far more 

 numerous, kills hundreds every year. Some 

 men claim that most of the deer found 

 eaten by cats were killed by hunters ; but 

 on the snow you can see where the cat 



crawled up and killed his prey before it 

 could rise from the ground. At other 

 times he will spring from a tree on to the 

 hapless deer and bear it to the ground. 

 The deer found dead are generally does 

 and fawns, thougk often an old buck falls 

 victim to ths bobcat. 



W. H. Young, Whitefield, N. H. 



ANSWER.. . 



A general view of the genus Lynx as it 

 exists in North America, reveals the fact 

 that the popular name '"lynx" is a perfectly 

 correct designation for all the animals com- 

 monly called bobcats. Mr. Young seems 

 to consider that the name "lynx" applies 

 only to the well known Canada lynx (Lynx 

 canadensis) , which he correctly de- 

 scribes. On the contrary, the name is as 

 generally and as correctly applied to the 

 species scientifically designated as Lynx 

 rufus, and long known in all works on nat- 

 ural history as the "bay lynx," or "red 

 lynx." In some portions of the United 

 States, it is also called the wildcat. This 

 is the species represented in the "Bobcats' 

 Banquet," in the June number of Recrea- 

 tion. The name bobcat, as applied to Lynx 

 rufus and its varieties, is now coming into 

 general use throughout the United States. 

 It is applied indiscriminately, not only to 

 the well known Lynx rufus, but also to the 

 many sub-species of that animal that are 

 found in Florida, Texas, Arizona, Idaho, 

 Washington, and farther North. 



Elliot's "Synopsis of the Mammals of 

 North America" (1901), enumerates the 

 following species : 



Lynx canadensis, of Canada generally ; 

 one sub-species in Alaska and one in New- 

 foundland. 



Lynx rufus, of central North America, 

 and 9 sub-species, inhabiting the Western 

 half of North America as far South as 

 Mexico. 



Lynx gigas, of Nova Scotia, described in 

 1897 ; resembles the bay lynx more closely 

 than the Canada lynx. 



All these, wherever founds are lynxes, 

 just as much as the Canada lynx: but, as 

 stated above, all those coming under Lynx 

 rufus, and its 9 sub-species, are generally 

 spoken of to-day as bobcats. The Canada 

 lynx is easity recognized by the long, black 

 pencil of hair rising from the tip of each 

 ear. Some sub-species of the bay lynx 

 show a small ear-pencil, others none ; but 

 there is no mistaking the differences be- 

 tween the 2 species. The so-called bobcats 

 and wildcats are, therefore, lynxes. 



W. T. H. 



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