The lynxes are long-legged, short-bodied cats, with tufted ears and a
short “bobbed” tail. They are distributed from the northern limit of
trees south into the Temperate Zone throughout most of the northern
part of both Old and New Worlds. In North America there are two
types--the smaller animal, southern in distribution, and the larger,
or Canada lynx, limited to the north, where its range extends from the
northern limit of trees south to the northern border of the United
States. It once occupied all the mountains of New England and south in
the Alleghenies to Pennsylvania. In the West it is still a habitant of
the Rocky Mountains as far south as Colorado, and of the Sierra Nevada
nearly to Mount Whitney.
The Canada lynx is notable for the beauty of its head, one of the most
striking among all our carnivores. This species is not only much larger
than its southern neighbor, the bay lynx, but may also be distinguished
from it by its long ear tips, thick legs, broad spreading feet, and the
complete jet-black end of the tail. It is about 3 feet long and weighs
from 15 to over 30 pounds. As befits an animal of the great northern
forests, it has a long thick coat of fur, which gives it a remarkably
fluffy appearance. Its feet in winter are heavily furred above and
below and are so broad that they serve admirably for support in deep
snow, through which it would otherwise have to wade laboriously.
This animal does not attack people, though popular belief often credits
it with such action. It feeds mainly on such small prey as varying
hares, mice, squirrels, foxes, and the grouse and other birds living
in its domain; but on occasion it even kills animals as large as
mountain sheep. One such feat was actually witnessed above timberline
in winter on a spur of Mount McKinley. The lynx sprang from a ledge as
the sheep passed below, and, holding on the sheep’s neck and shoulders,
it reached forward and by repeatedly biting put out its victim’s eyes,
thus reducing it to helplessness.
The chief food of the Canada lynx is the varying hare, which throughout
the North periodically increases to the greatest abundance and holds
its numbers for several years. During these periods the fur sales in
the London market show that the number of lynx skins received increases
proportionately with those of the hare. When an epizoötic disease
appears, as it does regularly, and almost exterminates the hares, there
is an immediate and corresponding drop in the number of lynx skins
sent to market. This evidences one of Nature’s great tragedies, not
only among the overabundant hares, but among the lynxes, for with the
failure of their food supply over a vast area tens of thousands of them
perish of starvation.
The Canada lynx has from two to five kittens, which are marked with
dusky spots and short bands, indicating an ancestral relationship to
animals similar to the ocelot, or tiger-cat, of the American tropics.
The young usually keep with the mother for nearly a year. Such families
no doubt form the hunting parties whose rabbit drives on the Yukon
Islands were described to me by the fur traders and Indians of the
Yukon Valley.
During sledge trips along the lower Yukon I often saw the distinctive
broad, rounded tracks of lynxes, showing where they had wandered
through the forests or crossed the wide, snow-covered river channel.
Here and there, as the snow became very deep and soft, the tracks
showed where a series of leaps had been made. Lynx trails commonly led
from thicket to thicket where hares, grouse, or other game might occur.
Canada lynxes appear to be rather stupid animals, for they are readily
caught in traps, or even in snares, and, like most cats, make little
effort to escape.
=BOBCAT, OR BAY LYNX= (=Lynx ruffus= and its subspecies)
The bay lynx, bobcat, or wildcat, as _Lynx ruffus_ and its close
relatives are variously called in different parts of the country, is
one of the most widely distributed and best known of our wild animals.
It is about two-thirds the size of the Canada lynx and characterized by
much slenderer proportions, especially in its legs and feet. The ears
are less conspicuously tufted and the tip of the tail is black only on
its upper half. Bobcats range from Nova Scotia and southern British
Columbia over practically all of the wooded and brushy parts of the
United States except along the northern border, and extend south to the
southern end of the high table-land of Mexico.
[Illustration: OPOSSUM]
[Illustration: RACCOON]
From the earliest settlement of America the bobcat has figured
largely in hunting literature, and the popular estimate of its
character is well attested by the frontier idea of the superlative
physical prowess of a man who can “whip his weight in wildcats.”
Although our wildcat usually weighs less than 20 pounds, if its reputed
fierceness could be sustained it would be an awkward foe. But, so far
as man is concerned, unless it is cornered and forced to defend itself,
it is extremely timid and inoffensive.
[Illustration: CANADA LYNX]
[Illustration: BOBCAT (Bay Lynx)]
Like all cats, it is very muscular and active, and to the rabbits,
squirrels, mice, grouse, and other small game upon which it feeds is a
persistent and remorseless enemy. Although an expert tree-climber, it
spends most of its time on the ground, where it ordinarily seeks its
prey. It is most numerous in districts where birds and small mammals
abound, and parts of California seem especially favorable for it. At a
mountain ranch in the redwood forest south of San Francisco one winter
some boys with dogs killed more than eighty bobcats.
Ordinarily the bobcat seems to be rather uncommon, but its nocturnal
habits usually prevent its real numbers being actually known. In
districts where not much hunted it is not uncommonly seen abroad by
day, especially in winter, when driven by hunger.
The bay lynx makes its den in hollows in trees, in small caves, and in
openings among rock piles wherever quiet and safety appear assured.
Although a shy animal, it persists in settled regions if sufficient
woodland or broken country remains to give it shelter. From such
retreats it sallies forth at night, and not only do the chicken roosts
of careless householders suffer, but toll is even taken among the lambs
of sheep herds.
As in the case of most small cats, the stealthy hunting habits of the
bay lynx renders it excessively destructive to ground-frequenting
birds, especially to quail, grouse, and other game birds. For this
reason, like many of its kind, it is outlawed in all settled parts of
the country.
=MOUNTAIN LION= (=Felis couguar= and its subspecies)
The mountain lion, next to the jaguar, is the largest of the cat tribe
native to America. In various parts of its range it is also known as
the panther, cougar, and puma. It is a slender-bodied animal with a
small head and a long round tail, with a total length varying from
seven to nine feet and a weight from about 150 to 200 pounds.
It has from two to five young, which are paler brown than the adult and
plainly marked with large dusky spots on the body and with dark bars
on the tail. These special markings of the young, as in other animals,
are ancestral, and here appear to indicate that in the remote past our
plain brown panther was a spotted cat somewhat like the leopard.
No other American mammal has a range equal to that of the mountain
lion. It originally inhabited both North and South America from
southern Quebec and Vancouver Island to Patagonia and from the Atlantic
to the Pacific coasts. Within this enormous territory it appears to be
equally at home in an extraordinary variety of conditions. Formerly
it was rather common in the Adirondacks of northern New York and
still lives in the high Rocky Mountains of the West, where it endures
the rigors of the severest winter temperatures. It is generally
distributed, where large game occurs, in the treeless ranges of the
most arid parts of the southwestern deserts, and is also well known in
the most humid tropical forests of Central and South America, whose
gloomy depths are drenched by almost continual rain.
A number of geographic races of the species have been developed by the
varied character of its haunts. These are usually characterized by
differences in size and by paler and grayer shades in the arid regions
and by darker and browner ones in the humid areas.
The mountain lion, while powerful enough to be dangerous to man, is in
reality extremely timid. Owing to its being a potentially dangerous
animal, the popular conception of it is that of a fearsome beast, whose
savage exploits are celebrated in the folk-lore of our frontier. As a
matter of fact, few wild animals are less dangerous, although there are
authentic accounts of wanton attacks upon people, just as there are
authentic instances of buck deer and moose becoming aggressive. It has
a wild, screaming cry which is thrillingly impressive when the shades
of evening are throwing a mysterious gloom over the forests. In the
mountains of Arizona one summer a mountain lion repeatedly passed along
a series of ledges high above my cabin at dusk, uttering this loud
weird cry, popularly supposed to resemble the scream of a terrified
woman.
The mountain lion is usually nocturnal, but in regions where it is
not hunted it not infrequently goes abroad by day. It is a tireless
wanderer, often traveling many miles in a single night, sometimes in
search of game and again in search of new hunting grounds. I have
repeatedly followed its tracks for long distances along trails, and in
northern Chihuahua I once tracked one for a couple of miles from a bare
rocky hill straight across the open, grassy plain toward a treeless
desert mountain, for which it was heading, some eight or ten miles away.
Although inoffensive as to people, this cat is such a fierce and
relentless enemy of large game and live stock that it is everywhere an
outlaw. Large bounties on its head have resulted in its extermination
in most parts of the eastern United States and have diminished its
numbers elsewhere. It is not only hunted with gun and dog but also with
trap and poison.
A mountain lion usually secures its prey by a silent, cautious stalk,
taking advantage of every cover until within striking distance, and
then, with one or more powerful leaps, dashing the victim to the ground
with all the stunning impact of its weight. In a beautiful live-oak
forest on the mountains of San Luis Potosi I once trailed one of these
great cats to the spot where it had killed a deer a short time before,
and could plainly read in the trail the story of the admirable skill
with which it had moved from cover to cover until it reached a knoll
at one side of the little glade where the deer was feeding. Then a
great leap carried it to the deer’s back and struck the victim to the
ground with such violence that it slid 10 or 12 feet across the sloping
ground, apparently having been killed on the instant.
Another trail followed in the snow on the high mountains of New Mexico
led to the top of a projecting ledge from which the lion had leaped out
and down over 20 feet, landing on the back of a deer and sliding with
it 50 feet or more down the snowy slope.
The mountain lion often kills calves, but is especially fond of young
horses. In many range districts of the Western States and on the
table-land of Mexico, owing to the depredations of this animal, it
is impossible to raise horses. Unfortunately the predatory habits of
this splendid cat are such that it can not continue to occupy the same
territory as civilized man and so is destined to disappear before him.
=JAGUAR= (=Felis hernandesi= and its subspecies)
The jaguar, or “el tigre,” as it is generally known throughout
Spanish America, is the largest and handsomest of American cats. Its
size and deep yellow color, profusely marked with black spots and
rosettes, give it a close resemblance to the African leopard. It is,
however, a heavier and more powerful animal. In parts of the dense
tropical forests of South America coal-black jaguars occur, and while
representing merely a color phase, they are popularly supposed to be
much fiercer than the ordinary animal.
Jaguars are characteristic animals of the tropics in both Americas,
frequenting alike the low jungle of arid parts as well as the great
forests of the humid regions. In addition, they range south into
Argentina and north into the southwestern United States. Although less
numerous within our borders than formerly, they still occur as rare
visitants as far north as middle Texas, middle New Mexico, and northern
Arizona. They are so strictly nocturnal that their presence in our
territory is usually not suspected until, after depredations on stock
usually attributed to mountain lions, a trap or poison is put out and
reveals a jaguar as the offender. Several have been killed in this way
within our border during the last ten years, including one not far from
the tourist hotel at the Grand Canyon of Arizona.
Although so large and powerful, the jaguar has none of the truculent
ferocity of the African leopard. During the years I spent in its
country, mainly in the open, I made careful inquiry without hearing
of a single case where one had attacked human beings. So far as I
could learn, it has practically the same shy and cowardly nature as
the mountain lion. Despite this, the natives throughout its tropical
home have a great fear of “el tigre,” as I saw evidenced repeatedly
in Mexico. Apparently this fear is based wholly on its strength and
potential ability to harm man if it so desired.
Jaguars are very destructive to the larger game birds and mammals
of their domain and to horses and cattle on ranches. On many large
tropical ranches a “tigrero,” or tiger hunter, with a small pack of
mongrel dogs, is maintained, whose duty it is immediately to take up
the trail when a “tigre” makes its presence known, usually by killing
cattle. The hunter steadily continues the pursuit, sometimes for many
days, until the animal is either killed or driven out of the district.
It is ordinarily hunted with dogs, which noisily follow the trail, but
its speed through the jungle often enables it to escape. When hard
pressed it takes to a tree and is easily killed.
Few predatory animals are such wanderers as the jaguar, which roams
hundreds of miles from its original home, as shown by its occasional
appearance far within our borders. In the heavy tropical forest it so
commonly follows the large wandering herds of white-lipped peccaries
that some of the Mexicans contend that every large herd is trailed by
a tiger to pick up stragglers. Along the Mexican coast in spring, when
sea turtles crawl up the beaches to bury their eggs in the sand, the
rising sun often reveals the fresh tracks of the jaguar where it has
traveled for miles along the shore in search of these savory deposits.
In one locality on the Pacific coast of Guerrero I found that the
hardier natives had an interesting method of hunting the “tigre” during
the mating period. At such times the male has the habit of leaving its
lair near the head of a small canyon in the foothills early in the
evening and following down the canyon for some distance, at intervals
uttering a subdued roar. On moonlight nights at this time the hunter
places an expert native with a short wooden trumpet near the mouth
of the canyon to imitate the “tigre’s” call as soon as it is heard
and to repeat the cry at proper intervals. After placing the caller,
the hunter ascends the canyon several hundred yards and, gun in hand,
awaits the approach of the animal. The natives have many amusing tales
of the sudden exit of untried hunters when the approaching animal
unexpectedly uttered its roar at close quarters.
=JAGUARUNDI CAT, OR EYRA= (=Felis cacomitli= and its
subspecies)
The eyra differs greatly in general appearance from any of our other
cats, although it is one of the most characteristic of the American
members of this widely spread family. It is larger than an otter,
with a small flattened head, long body, long tail, and short legs,
thus having a distinctly otterlike form. It is characterized by two
color phases--one a dull gray or dusky, and the other some shade of
rusty rufous. Animals of these different colors were long supposed to
represent distinct species, but it has been learned not only that
color is the only difference between the two, but also that the two
colors are everywhere found together, affording satisfactory evidence
that they are merely color phases of the same species.
[Illustration: MOUNTAIN LION]
[Illustration: JAGUAR]
[Illustration: RED AND GRAY PHASES OF THE JAGUARUNDI CAT, OR EYRA]
[Illustration: TIGER-CAT, OR OCELOT]
The eyra is a habitant of brush-grown or forested country, mainly
in the lowlands, from the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas south
to Paraguay. In this vast territory it has developed a number of
geographic races.
In southern Texas, where it is often associated with the ocelot, the
eyra lives in dense thorny thickets of mesquites, acacias, ironwood,
and other semitropical chaparral in a region of brilliant sunlight;
but farther south it also roams the magnificent forests of the humid
tropics, in which the sun rarely penetrates. It appears to be even more
nocturnal and retiring than most of our cats, and but little is known
of its life history. The results of thorough trapping in the dense
thorny thickets near Brownsville, Texas, indicate that it is probably
more common than is generally supposed.
The natives in the lowlands of Guerrero, on the Pacific coast of
Mexico, informed me that the eyra in that region is fond of the
vicinity of streams, and that it takes to the water and swims freely,
crossing rivers whenever it desires. Its otterlike form goes well with
such habits, and further information may prove that it is commonly a
water-frequenting animal. Its unusual form and dual coloration and our
lack of knowledge regarding the life of the eyra unite to make it one
of the most interesting of our carnivores.
=TIGER-CATS, OR OCELOTS= (=Felis pardalis= and its relatives)
The brushy and forested areas of America from southern Texas and Sonora
to Paraguay are inhabited by spotted cats of different species, varying
from the size of a large house cat to that of a Canada lynx. Only one
of these occurs in the United States. All are characterized by long
tails and a yellowish ground color, conspicuously marked by black
spots, and on neck and back by short, longitudinal stripes--a color
pattern that strongly suggests the leopard.
In the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas the tiger-cat is rather
common, with the eyra-cat, in areas densely overgrown with thorny
chaparral. Like most of the cat tribe, it is strictly nocturnal and by
day lies well hidden in its brushy shelter. By night it wanders along
trails over a considerable territory, seeking its prey. Birds of all
kinds, including domestic poultry, are captured on their roosts, and
rabbits, wood rats, and mice of many kinds, as well as snakes and other
reptiles, are on its list of game.
Its reptile-eating habit was revealed to me unexpectedly one day in
the dense tropical forest of Chiapas. I was riding along a steep trail
beside a shallow brush-grown ravine when a tiger-cat suddenly rushed up
the trunk of a tree close by. A lucky shot from my revolver brought
it to the ground, and I found it lying in the ravine by the body of a
recently killed boa about 6 or 7 feet long. It had eaten the boa’s head
and neck when my approach interrupted the feast.
The first of these cats I trapped in Mexico was captured the night
after my arrival, in a trail bordering the port of Manzanillo, on the
Pacific coast. The rejoicing of the natives living close by evidenced
the toll this marauder had been taking from their chickens.
The tiger-cat is much more quiet and less fierce in disposition than
most felines. It excited my surprise and interest whenever I trapped
one to note how nonchalantly it took the situation. The captive never
dashed wildly about to escape, but when I drew near sat and looked
quietly at me without the slightest sign of alarm and with little
apparent interest. A small trap-hold, even on the end of a single toe,
was enough to retain the victim. On one occasion, while a cat thus held
sat looking at me, it quietly reached to one side and sank its teeth
into the bark of a small tree to which the trap was attached, and then
resumed its air of unconcern.
The tiger-cat brings within our fauna an interesting touch of the
tropics and its exuberance of animal life. It is found in so small a
corner of our territory, however, that, despite its mainly inoffensive
habits, it is certain to be crowded out in the near future by the
increased occupation of its haunts.
=RED FOX= (=Vulpes fulva= and its relatives)
Red foxes are characterized by their rusty red fur, black-fronted fore
legs, and white-tipped tail. They inhabit the forested regions in the
temperate and subarctic parts of both Old and New Worlds, and, like
other types of animal life having a wide range, they break up into
numerous distinct species and geographic races.
In America they originally ranged over nearly all the forested region
from the northern limit of trees in Alaska and Canada south, east of
the Great Plains, to Texas; also down the Rocky Mountains to middle
New Mexico, and down the Sierra Nevada to the Mount Whitney region
of California. They are unknown on the treeless plains of the West,
including the Great Basin. Originally they were apparently absent from
the Atlantic and Gulf States from Maryland to Louisiana, but have since
been introduced and become common south to middle Georgia and Alabama.
Wherever red foxes occur they show great mental alertness and capacity
to meet the requirements of their surroundings. In New England they
steadily persist, though their raids on poultry yards have for
centuries set the hand of mankind against them. For a time conditions
favored them in parts of the Middle Atlantic States, for the sport of
hunting to hounds was imported from England, and the foxes had partial
protection. This exotic amusement has now passed and the fox must
everywhere depend on his nimble wits for safety.
Since the days of Æsop’s fables tales of foxes and their doings have
had their place in literature as well as in the folk-lore of the
countryside. Many of their amazing wiles to outwit pursuers or to
capture their prey give evidence of extraordinary mental powers.
Their bill of fare includes many items, as mice, birds, reptiles,
insects, many kinds of fruits, and on rare occasions a chicken. The
bad name borne by them among farmers, due to occasional raids on the
poultry yard, is largely unwarranted. They kill enormous numbers of
mice and other small rodents each year, and thus well repay the loss of
a chicken now and then.
Red foxes apparently pair for life and occupy dens dug by themselves
in a secluded knoll or among rocks. These dens, which are sometimes
occupied for years in succession, always have two or more entrances
opening in opposite directions, so that an enemy entering on one side
may be readily eluded. The young, numbering up to eight or nine, are
tenderly cared for by both parents.
Although they have been persistently hunted and trapped in North
America since the earliest times, they still yield a royal annual
tribute of furs. It is well known that the highly prized cross, as well
as the precious black, and silver gray foxes are merely color phases
occurring in litters of the ordinary red animal. Black skins are so
highly prized that specially fine ones have sold for more than $2,500
each in the London market. The reward thus offered has resulted in the
development of black fox fur-farms, which have been very successful in
parts of Canada and the United States, thus originating a valuable new
industry.
By the modern regulation of trapping, foxes and other fur-bearers are
destined to survive wherever conditions are favorable. In addition to
the economic value of foxes, the location of an occasional fox den here
and there on the borders of a woodland tract, the meandering tracks in
the snow, and the occasional glimpse of animals cautiously making their
rounds add a keen touch of primitive nature well worth preserving in
any locality.