The animal attains a much greater size than any of the ordinary Wild Cats, being as much as forty or fifty inches long, from the tip of its snout to the root of its tail. It is also readily distinguished from the Cats proper by the shortness of its tail, which does not exceed six to nine inches, or about one-fifth the length of the body, and by the length of its legs, which gives it a decidedly un-Cat-like look, and brings its height at the shoulder up to twenty-five inches. Another distinguishing feature is to be found in the long pointed ears, each with a tuft of long stiff hair on its tip; and still another is the length of the fur on the cheeks, whereby a pair of capital whiskers of almost Dundreary length is produced. These, it must be understood, are quite distinct from the true “whiskers,” or tactile vibrissæ, with which the upper lip of the Lynx, like that of all Felidæ, is provided. The tufted ears and bearded cheeks, together with the fierce brightness of the eye, give the Lynx an altogether peculiar and somewhat weird expression.
When we have added that the pads of the feet are overgrown with hair, we have mentioned all the obvious differences between a Lynx and a true Cat. In everything else, its teeth, its bones, its sheathed claws, its manner of killing its prey, its habit of swearing and spitting when angry, it is a Cat all over. Still, the differences between it and the ordinary Cats are considerable, and some naturalists prefer to look upon the Lynxes as a distinct genus (Lyncus); but, on the whole, especially when we consider how the chasm is bridged over by the Jungle Cat, it is more convenient to keep the two together, and consider the Lynxes as simply a section of the great genus Felis.
The skin of the Common Lynx is of a reddish-grey colour, more or less spotted with red or dark grey; but the variations in marking are very great in different individuals, and in the same individual at different ages. The fur, also, is longer in winter than in summer.
COMMON LYNX.
CANADIAN LYNX.
The Lynx is undoubtedly the most dangerous and destructive beast of prey now left in Europe; at any rate, a single Lynx will do more damage than an individual of any other wild species. The Russian Wolves may be, on the whole, worse enemies, but they hunt in packs, and are only dangerous in numbers, a single Wolf being a sorry coward, while a Lynx is a truly redoubtable antagonist, as the following excellent account of his habits will show:—
“While he succeeds in finding food in the forests and gorges of the high mountains, he does not attempt to shift his quarters, but lives alone with his mate, and betrays his presence by horrible howlings, audible at a great distance. He only quits his chosen solitude at the last extremity, and mounts on a branch, where he crouches at full length among the foliage, which half hides without incommoding him. With eye and ear on the watch, he remains whole days motionless, with eyes half closed, and in a state of apparent sleep, which is only the more dangerous, for then he is most completely cognisant of all that is passing around him. The Lynx lives by stratagem. Like all Cats, he has not a particularly fine sense of smell, and his pace is not sufficiently rapid to allow him to pursue his prey. His patience, and the skill with which he creeps noiselessly, bring him close up to his victim. More patient than the Fox, he is less cunning; less hardy than the Wolf, he leaps better and can resist famine longer. He is not so strong as the Bear, but keeps a better look-out, and has sharper sight. His strength resides chiefly in his feet, jaws, and neck. He prefers to make his hunting as easy as possible, and only chooses his victim when food abounds. Every animal he can reach with one of his bounds, which rarely miss their aim, is lost and devoured; if he misses, he allows the animal to escape, and returns to crouch in his post of observation, without showing his disappointment. He is not voracious, but he loves warm blood, and this passion makes him imprudent.... If he comes upon a flock of Goats or Sheep, he approaches, dragging his belly along the ground, like a Snake, then raises himself with a bound, falls on the back of his victim, breaks its neck or cuts its carotid with his teeth, and kills it instantaneously. Then he licks the blood which flows from the wound, rips open the belly, devours the entrails, gnaws off a part of the head, neck, and shoulder, and leaves the rest.”[54] So bloodthirsty is his nature, that a single individual has been known to destroy forty Sheep in a few weeks. Fortunately for the inhabitants, this plague is now nearly extinct in Central Europe. It is extremely rare in the Alps, though it was tolerably common within the last fifty years; and in the forests of Thuringia, only two have been found during the present century.
