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VERTEBRATA. 
Of lynxes, there appear to be several American species. The Bay Lynx, Felis rufa, or Felis 
montana, is also called the American Wild-Cat. It is two and a half feet long, and usually 
weighs somewhat less than twenty pounds; the head is round, the body slender, legs long, soles 
of the feet naked, hind-feet partially webbed, ears large, nearly triangular, and tipped with coarse 
hairs, which are shed in summer. The throat is surrounded with a ruff of long hair. The tail is 
short, slender, and turned up at the end. The general color is of a yellowish brown or bay; there 
is a line of darker browai rising from the shoulders to the tail, and circular longitudinal stripes of 
a similar shade upon the back. The sides are spotted with dark brown. 
This animal is very extensively distributed, being found in all the less settled portions of ISTorth 
America, from latitude sixty north to the tropics. In the warmer parts of the United States 
it is abundant, and in some places is even a nuisance, from its depredations upon the eggs and 
poultry of the plantations. It usually chooses the wooded steeps of hills, or thick, swampy for- 
ests for its haunts; it feeds on eggs, rabbits, rats, squirrels, partridges, fish, and indeed almost 
any small quadruped it can master, or any bird it can seize. The hens, ducks, geese, and turkeys 
of the farm-yards fall victims to its voracity. It will follow flocks of wild turkeys, and seeing in 
what direction they are going, will proceed by a short cut to the path they are likely to take, 
where it crouches down, and when one of them comes within its reach it bounds upon it and seizes 
it. It is a very shy animal, and when hunted displays great address in eluding both dogs and 
hunters. It is very timid, yet makes a stou.t defense when driven to extremity. It is a tolerable 
swimmer, and has not the general aversion of the cat family to the water. Its usual home is in 
the hole of a tree, or a space beneath a log. The female makes a he4 of moss and leaves, where 
she produces from two to four young at a birth. All attempts to domesticate this species have 
proved fruitless. The flesh is said to be white like veal, and of good flavor. 
THE CANADA LYNX. 
The Canada Lynx, Felis Canadensis, the Loup Cervier of the French, and Peshoo of the In- 
dians, has a round, broad head, large eyes, strong teeth, ears acute and tipped with long hairs. 
The body is robust, the legs thick and clumsy, the toes strong and imbedded in fur. The fur has 
a woolly appearance, the under part being very close and soft. The general color of the back is 
gray, with a rufous tinge ; the sides are gray, the under surface dull white. There are irregular 
spots of brown over nearly the whole form, these markings varying in different species. The 
length of the body is thirty-three to thirty-eight inches; the tail six inches. 
The Canada lynx is a northern species, being found from latitude sixty-six degrees north to 
Pennsylvania. It is occasionally found in the unsettled parts of the northern United States, but 
