210 



NOKTH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



[NO. 27. 



to the middle of a stout stick 3 oi* 4 feet long, which acts as a drag 

 when the animal is caught. It thus generally becomes entangled in 

 the brush and after a few struggles remains passive, and if the 

 weather is cold quickly freezes to death. The flesh of the lynx is 

 said to be very palatable, and is eaten by the natives and to some 

 extent by the white residents. 



During my trip down the Mackenzie in June, I frequently saw 

 tracks between Fort Simpson and Fort Wrigley. A lynx was seen 

 to cross ISTahanni River as we were ascending it June 3. It swam 

 readily in the SAvift current, and on reaching the shore bounded away 

 into the forest, apparently little fatigued by its violent exertions. 



Though this animal extends its range nearly to the limit of trees, 

 its preference for the Canadian zone is decided. At Fort Norman I 

 ascertained that not over a dozen had been traded during the winter. 

 I saw no skins at Fort Good Hope, and only about half a dozen had 

 been brought in to Fort McPherson and its outpost, Arctic Red River, 

 during the winter. Fort Anderson during the first year of its exist-- 

 ence (outfit 1861) received in trade only four skins of this species, 

 and the same number were traded during the following year. These 

 notes regarding lynxes within the confines of the Hudsonian zone 

 probably refer to subspecies mollipilosus^ but are included here to 

 show the relative scarcity of the animal northward. 



Since 1904 the lynx has been declining in numbers in the Mackenzie 

 region. A. F. Camsell reports it scarce at Fort Simpson in December, 

 1906, and December, 1907. 



Richardson states that this animal is found on the Mackenzie as 

 far north as latitude 66°.* Simpson observed the species on Clear- 

 water River near the mouth of the Pembina.^ Richardson noted it at 

 Isle a la Crosse Lake in June, 1848.^' Ross, referring to the Mac- 

 kenzie River region, states that the lynx " ranges to the Arctic Coast 

 in summer. In winter it does not leave the shelter of the woods." ^ 

 Allen records specimens from Fort Simpson, Liard River, and Peel 

 River.^ Tyrrell, from observations made in 1892, states that the 

 Canada lynx is moderately abundant in some seasons in the more 

 southern part of the region between the eastern end of Athabaska 

 Lake and Churchill River. ^ 



In the early autumn of 1895, J. Alden Loring saw many tracks of 

 lynxes about the base of the Rocky Mountains in western Alberta. In 

 1896 he reported the species common in the valleys and foothills 15 



Fauna Boreali- Americana, I, p. 101, 1829. 

 ^ Narrative Discoveries on North Coast of America, j). 63, 1843. 



Arctic Searching Expedition, I, p. 106, 1851. 

 <^Can. Nat. and Geol., VII, p. 137, 1862. 



^ Bull. U. S. Geol. and Geog. Surv. Terr., No. 4, Vol. II, p. 325, 1876. 

 ^Ann. Kept Can. Geol. Surv., VIII (new ser,), p. 13D, 1896. 



