The Lynxes of British Columbia. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Mr. Sheldon’s article in a recent number of 
your journal, describing minutely how the lynx 
kills sheep, is of the greatest interest. 
It would seem, however, that the sheep must 
injure themselves in their frantic attempts to 
rid themselves of their destroyer, or else that 
they succumb to terror, as the loss of the eyes 
in itself is not sufficient to cause immediate 
death. 
In this province I have come across very few 
instances of any of the genus lynx killing ani¬ 
mals of any size. This is probably due to the 
abundance of rabbits and smaller game. Still 
in severe winters they do occasionally kill small 
deer, especially late fawns, and I have known 
a wildcat to kill a large three-months-old lamb 
of a domestic sheep. 
For the last few years the Canada lynx has 
been much more numerous than usual all over 
Southern British Columbia and a few have been 
killed west of the Cascades close to the coast, 
a region in which they are usually very rare. 
Undoubtedly the majority of these have come 
from long distances because of the lack of their 
favorite food—rabbits—in the country to the 
north and east. 
Last winter while deer hunting in the moun¬ 
tains west of Okanagan Lake I set out a few 
traps for lynx, the tracks of which seemed to 
be fairly numerous. After three were caught 
the tracks seemed to be reduced to that of one 
individual which was evidently an educated cus¬ 
tomer, as he stole the bait from several care¬ 
ful sets without springing the trap. He tried 
the game once too often, and one evening on 
returning from a long day’s hunt I found him 
fast by one toe in a No. 134 trap. He proved 
to be a very large male, and after dispatching 
him with my .22 pistol I started to peel off his 
fine pelt in a hurry. On coming to the head I 
found the skin would not draw over the skull, 
so as it was getting late I left the head to be 
skinned when I reached camp. 
There a surprise awaited me, as I found a 
tight drawn rawhide noose around his neck just 
back of the head. This was so tight that it 
seemed that it would have been impossible for 
the animal to swallow, yet it had not impaired 
his condition nor injured his fur. This noose 
was the regular two-ply twisted snare used by 
the Northern Indians, but never, to my knowl¬ 
edge, used by the Indians anywhere in the region 
around Okanagan. I showed it to several and 
they had no knowledge of its use, so this lynx 
must have traveled for a long distance. 
That same winter the reports for the Atha- 
baska-McKenzie region showed that the lynx 
skins brought into the Hudson Bay posts had 
fallen to about one per cent, of the usual take. 
Besides the Canada lynx there are found in 
British Columbia two other species of the genus. 
These, though always called wildcats, are true 
lynxes; the only true cat found in Canada in 
a feral state being the cougar or puma. The 
larger of the two species is the Coast Wildcat 
{Lynx fasciatus), a large red colored lynx with 
heavily banded forelegs and strongly marked 
body. This animal is confined to the coast west 
of the Cascade Mountains. It will average fully 
as heavy as a Canada lynx, though on account 
of its shorter pelage it looks a smaller animal. 
I have never weighed one over twenty pounds, 
but have heard of records up to thirty and quite 
believe these to be correct. 
The wildcat found east of the Cascades is 
the plateau wildcat {Lynx baileyii), or possibly 
its recently described sub-species Uinta (Mer- 
riam). This is a shorter legged, chunkier ani¬ 
mal, In color it much resembles the Canada 
lynx, but the forelegs are always heavily banded 
on the inner surface, the belly more spotted 
and the short bob tail has an extra ring of black 
and a tiny white tip. The tassels on the ears 
are more pronounced than in the coast wildcat, 
but never nearly so long as in the Canada lynx, 
and the feet are smaller than those of the latter 
animal. In the fur lists it goes by the apt name 
of lynx cat. 
The plateau wildcat is common in the valleys 
of the semi-arid interior, seldom ascending far 
up the mountains. How far north it goes I can¬ 
not say and I have heard of no records north 
of the Canadian Pacific railway line. It certainly 
does not occur anywhere in the Cariboo district. 
They are usually extremely fat; the heaviest I 
have seen weighed twenty-four pounds. 
Unlike the coast wildcat, they are very easily 
trapped, more so even than a lynx. They seem 
to hunt in company, as I once saw the tracks of 
five traveling abreast of each other in newly 
fallen snow. The locality where I saw this 
seemed to be overrun with wildcats one winter, 
with only an odd lynx at higher elevations. 
Next season the whole country was overrun with 
lynx tracks and only one wildcat (an old fellow) 
seemed to have remained. This would indicate 
that the lynx drives the smaller cats out, as the 
latter are not much given to wandering. 
The ranges of the coast and plateau wildcats 
do not seem to overlap, the high wall of the 
Cascades forming an insurmountable barrier for 
them. Occasionally one sees skins of the latter 
much redder than usual, but this is due to in¬ 
dividual variation, just as the gray or Canada 
lynx is often decidedly red with fairly con¬ 
spicuous bars on the forelegs and a spotted belly. 
In these cases the structural characters can al¬ 
ways be relied on; the long penciled ears, long 
legs and heavily furred, puffy feet are always 
very distinctive in the Canada lynx, though less 
so in summer than in winter. 
Allan Brooks. 
THE NATURAL FLAVOR 
of the richest and purest cow’s milk is re¬ 
tained in Borden’s Peerless Brand Evapor¬ 
ated Milk (unsweetened). It is especially 
adapted for use either plain or diluted on 
breakfast fruits or cereals. In coffee and 
chocolate it is much better than fresh cream. 
It enriches all milk dishes.— Adv. 
Animals that Kill Wantonly. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
While usually our carnivorous animals kill 
to supply their immediate wants, still there are 
some species which often kill for mere sport, 
and there are few kinds of which some indi¬ 
viduals do not at some time kill wantonly. 
When I was a boy and there were wolves in 
Maine I have known four or five wolves to kill 
over forty sheep in a single night in a town 
near here. 
Nansen, on page 426 of the second volume of 
his “Farthest North,” tells of a large polar bear 
killing two smaller ones, and says: “What 
pleasure it can have had in doing this I do not 
understand.” 
My father once saw thirteen fully grown 
sheep which two wildcats had killed in one night 
on Mt. Desert Island. I know of several cases 
where wildcats have entered barns and out¬ 
buildings and killed numbers of hens or ducks. 
Raccoons often kill hens which they cannot 
carry off. I know of many cases of foxes kilt¬ 
ing many hens or turkeys which they could not 
eat. I once saw the skin of a mink which a 
loup-cervier had killed. The person who had 
it said that there was a light snow, so he could 
see every motion. The loup-cervier had'appar¬ 
ently met the mink by accident on the ice. He 
had bitten it through the back, dropped it and 
walked on. 
I once saw a loup-cervier trapped which had 
killed several lambs. Red squirrels will kill 
more young birds than they can eat. I have 
known an otter to pile up a large lot of suckers 
which he must have caught just for sport. 
Lately a mink got into a bait tank near here 
and killed nearly all the live baits. The owner 
estimated that there were several thousands. 
House cats often kill birds which they do not 
eat; they also often bring in moles, frogs and 
snakes which they kill for the fun of killing. 
I have no doubt that sable and fisher would kill 
poultry just as mink and raccoon do if they had 
the same opportunity. 
Some birds also kill for sport. All ornitholo¬ 
gists know' of shrikes hanging up birds and mice 
which they do not need. I have several, times 
seen sheldrakes kill scores of small fish just for 
fun. They bit them, dropped them and passed 
along. I have seen eight or ten sheldrakes do¬ 
ing this at a time. Goshawks kill for sport. I 
have known one in one morning to kill five 
ruffed grouse and leave them after tearing them 
in pieces. Last winter a goshawk was given 
me which had just killed two large Plymouth 
Rock hens. 
It seems as if many animals and birds take 
as much pleasure in killing things for mere 
sport as many of our sportsmen and fishermen 
do. Manly Hardy. 
[The familiar case of bluefish rushing into 
a school of menhaden and chopping up far more 
than they can eat, at once suggests itself.— 
Editor.] 
