CARACAL.

[❏
LARGER IMAGE]

The Lynx, when caught young, is said to be quite tameable, but the domesticated animal is liable to die of over-fatness. Its flesh is eaten in Siberia, and even in Switzerland, but as usual with its tribe, the skin is the part on which the greatest value is set. It has a very beautiful hide, and in Siberia, where the greatest value is obtained, each one costs from twenty to fifty francs on the spot. “The skin of the fore-feet is sold separately; they are cut off, and fetch from ten to fifteen francs a pair. A Lynx skin is worth three of the Sable, six of the Wolf, twelve of the Fox, and a hundred of the Squirrel.”

There are some differences as to size, &c., between the Lynxes found in Scandinavia and those inhabiting Central Europe. These are sometimes separated as distinct species, the former being then called Felis borealis, the other F. cervaria; the latter is the larger of the two.

THE PARDINE LYNX.[55]

This animal takes the place of the common kind in Southern Europe, being especially abundant in Spain, where its range just overlaps that of its relative.

It is somewhat smaller than the Common Lynx—not more than thirty-two inches long. Its skin is of a beautiful rufous tint, regularly spotted with black, the spots extending over the tail, and the red colour merging into white on the under surface.

THE CANADIAN LYNX.[56]

This species ([see figure, p. 73]) replaces the European variety in North America, where it is especially abundant in the Rocky Mountains and in Canada.

It is about the same size as the Common Lynx. Its fur is shorter but thicker. The hairs on the back are darker, the points being ringed with grey and brown; those of the flanks are grey at the root, reddish-white at the extremity. It has the reputation of being a very lazy beast, and far less ferocious and more cowardly than its cousins of the Old World.