ZOOLOGY. 
109 
kitten skins obtained by Mr. Gibbs were got in August; and it is fair to suppose that they 
were littered in July. The Indians speaking the Nisqually dialect call this animal swo-wah .—S. 
LYNX FASCIATUS, Raf. 
Western Wild Cat; Red Cat. 
Lynx fasdatns, Rap. Am. Month. Mag. II, Nov. 1817, 46. 
Baird, Gen. Rep. Mammals, 1867, 96. 
Tiger Oat, Lewis & Clark, Travels II, 1814, 167. 
[For specific characters in detail of this species see chap. 2, p. 90.] 
The western wild cat is abundant in the thickly wooded districts bordering the lower 
Columbia and Puget Sound. Lewis and Clark, in speaking of this animal, call it the “tiger 
cat,” and say that it is much larger than that of the States, with much finer fur. They 
remark that the Indians made robes out of four skins. 
The name of this animal in Yakima (a dialect of the Walla-Walla language) is Pitzeni , and in 
Nisqually Pish-pish. The older settlers say that there are two kinds of wild cat in the neigh 
borhood of Puget Sound—one being the species now under consideration, the other called 
the brindled cat. I saw a specimen of the L. fasciatis at Olympia in 1856. It was about twice 
the size of the common wild cat. Tail short, ears black, with gray spots upon them like 
“thumb marks.” The Skokomish Indians call it Chebuk. The Indians say that there are two 
cats besides the cougar, thus corroborating the statements of the settlers. A very intelligent 
settler, a keen hunter, and an observing man—Judge Ford, of the Chehalis river—says that 
there is a third kind, which is spotted black and white, and is much more slender than the 
common wild cat of the country.—G. 
The barred lynx is a very abundant species in the thickly wooded districts of Washington 
Territory; so much so that I obtained a half dozen specimens during the last year I resided 
there. One of these (a female) was shot in a barnyard near Fort Steilacoom. It and a com- 
^ panion were standing near some calves, whisking their tails, and apparently bent upon mischief* 
It is not often that they attempt to take such large prey; but usually they content themselves 
with young pigs, or other small delicacies that may fall in their way near the settler’s home. 
When not depending upon what can be stolen from the farmer or shepherd, they subsist upon 
young fawns, rabbits, ruffed grouse, small birds, squirrels, &c. 
There may be two kinds of wild cats in the Territory north of the Columbia, the present 
species and the Hudson Bay lynx. The latter Townshend says inhabits Oregon. The Indians 
about Puget Sound, when asked, always say that there are two lynxes or wild cats. One of 
these they call Bellopes; but the Bellopes is the raccoon, ( Procyon hernandezii.) Undoubtedly 
these natives have not studied comparative anatomy very extensively. After removing the 
Bellopes and asking how many other kinds of wild cats exist in their country, they answer 
only one , pointing to a skin of the red cat of the present article. The kind spoken of by Mr. 
Gibbs as having been seen by Judge Ford may perhaps be a partially grown cougar, which 
we know are spotted when young; or it may be a young individual of the Hudson Bay lynx, 
or even a new and undescribed species. I have friends on the lookout for the animal, so that, 
if at all abundant, I shall probably ere long receive a specimen. 
The Indians eat the red lynx whenever obtained. Upon their recommendation I tried a steak 
broiled, but have no hesitation in pronouncing the creature not good. A prominent mark of 
this species is the gray “thumb mark” on the ears. 
