THE COMMON LYNX.[53]
In the Lynx we come again to an animal of historical interest, for this creature was well known to the ancients. It is mentioned by Pliny as having first appeared in the Amphitheatre at Rome in the time of Pompey, having been brought to the great city from Gaul, where, at that time, it was probably very abundant. No doubt it would cause grand sport in the arena, for it is an extremely savage beast, and capable of holding its own against animals many times its own size. The Lynx was also one of the animals sacred to Bacchus, and is sometimes represented, instead of the Leopard, as drawing the car of this deity.
But the Lynx of the ancients has, as Buffon remarks, quite the character of a fabulous animal. It was supposed “that its sight was so piercing as to penetrate opaque bodies, that its water had the marvellous property of becoming a solid body, a precious stone, calledlapis lyncurius!” This last legend, as Brehm suggests, probably arose from the fact that the amber brought from Liguria was calledlapis ligurius, and that the Greek merchants, knowing nothing about such a place as Liguria, corruptedliguriusintolyncurius, and, of course, connected it withLyncus. A survival of the superstition about the Lynx being able to see through walls still exists in our common expression, “Lynx-eyed.”
The Common Lynx is found chiefly in Norway, Sweden, Russia, and Northern Asia, and in the mountainous districts of Central Europe. In other parts of the Continent it is nearly or quite extinct.
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 allFelidæ, 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 genusFelis.
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.
COMMON LYNX.
CANADIAN 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 horriblehowlings, 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 wastolerably common within the last fifty years; and in the forests of Thuringia, only two have been found during the present century.
CARACAL.❏LARGER IMAGE
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 calledFelis borealis, the otherF. cervaria; the latter is the larger of the two.