The Babyhood of Wild Beasts/Chapter 16
CHAPTER XVI
baby canada lynx
COME with me into Canada or the northern United States and we'll visit Mr. and Mrs. Lynx in their lair. We'll go into the great silent woods peopled by the forest folk, who have come through the long white winter with its bitter cold and scarcity of food, and now are enjoying the soft spring days with their warmth and abundant food.
A wail like the cry of a woman cuts the silence and we recognise Mrs. Lynx's voice. The print of her broad foot guides us to her home. An old log presents itself and we peep in and there lie two reddish brown little kitties, handsomely spotted, snuggled away in the hollow log. We are looking at the Lynx children. They are blind at first like our domestic kittens.
In appearance they are not much different from the kittens of the backyard, except they are bigger and clumsier and their paws are big and their tails are so little and short they are mere stubs.
Their weak little legs can't support their squat plump bodies at first, but in a few days they try to crawl about and in a few weeks they are pretty lively for little fellows.
It was a happy day in their little home when Mother Lynx led them out of the hollow log into the beautiful warm sunshine.
The little ones blinked their blue eyes and rolled about on the soft grass. Their father watched them with a proud light in his eyes, and no doubt he thought them the handsomest and smartest kittens in the whole world.
They waddled about on their sprawling short legs until they were so tired they were glad when their mother picked them up and carried them into the dim hollow log.
Mother Lynx catches wild mice and brings them home to her babies, just as old Tabby Cat does, and the kittens spit and growl and worry them in the most approved fashion. It isn't long before the Lynx kittens can catch their own mice and some fat grasshoppers for dessert. Then they get strong and nimble enough to catch a chipmunk; and I assure you it's a proud day in the hollow log home when the babies come trotting in with a rabbit.
They grow strong with exercise and are soon able to follow their parents up the tallest trees, over rough ground and through the dense thickets.
Their mother is an excellent teacher but a very strict one. The first principle to be learned is to ask no questions, and obey promptly. When mother gives the signal to "lie still" a kitten must not move, even if the life is scared half out of him. He must learn what food is good for him and what is not. A prickly porcupine is to be let alone, but sometimes a growing youngster's appetite gets the better of his judgment and his mouth waters for a taste of juicy Porky. Later he wishes he had listened to reason, when he gets a whack from old Porky's tail across the nose. His face is driven full of those deadly quills, and he jumps around like a crazy creature, tearing madly at his face with his big paws. If he succeeds in getting them out, he is lucky. If they stick in his eyes they are apt to penetrate his brain and kill him instantly; and if they blind him he is left to the terrible fate of starvation. A blind Lynx is worse than no Lynx at all.
By autumn our babies are getting to be quite respectable looking young Lynxes. Smart black tassels are beginning to sprout at the tips of their ears, giving their round faces a piquant expression. A thick whisker under the chin gives character and dignity to their appearance. Their paws are big and broad and are well adapted to walking on the snow. Their hind quarters are big and powerful and their heads are round and very cat-like in aspect. They are becoming a shadowy grey in colour but are still woolly looking. On their sides the hair grows particularly long to protect them when they travel through the light snow.
Their big paws are set with long white claws, cruelly curved. The kittens stand on their hind-feet and sharpen the claws of their fore-feet on a tree trunk, getting them ready for business.
You know a Lynx's teeth are not adapted for
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| Permission of New York Zoological Society |
| He's a full-fledged Canada Lynx now, with smart black tassels on his ears, a thick whisker under his chin, and a neat bob-tail, and, oh, my! how he can fight. |
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| Courtesy of New York Zoological Society |
| Baby Canada Lynx looks like a Tabby cat, except for those little black tassels sprouting on the tips of his ears. |
I think it takes a pretty smart baby of five or six months of age to go out alone in the great snow-covered forest and make his own living, don't you?
Our Lynx has many enemies—large wild animals, men with guns, but worse than all the terrible steel trap. There is no terror so keen as to get a paw caught in those cruel jaws. The only way to get free is to gnaw off one's own paw; and it takes a good deal of courage to do that. So the Lynx is taught at a very early age how to smell out the traps and avoid them.
The Canada Lynx is often called the Catamount, and Lucivee, the latter name being a corruption of the French Loupcervier, meaning deer-wolf. This Lynx is the original Lynx of the Far North. It is found in Scandinavia, northern Russia, Siberia, Alaska and Canada. In the Arctic it reaches great size. Some specimens measure more than fifty inches in length. Farther south, they rarely exceed forty inches.
In colour, our Canada fellow is a grizzled grey, with a varying hint of reddish or brownish. This tinge of contrasting colour is more pronounced in summer than in winter. Lynxes who live in high, dry countries are much lighter than those of damp, foggy countries. Ingersoll says:
"Those inhabiting the northern shores of the Mediterranean sea are redder and more spotted. They are strongly spotted when babies. This Lynx is the same as our southern variety and is called the pardine Lynx. One species of Lynx is found throughout Africa." The Canada Lynx rarely ranges south of Lake Superior. It is found in Quebec, New Brunswick and Maine. The skins are much sought after by the Indians and the big fur posts of the North. The Bay Lynx is first cousin to the Canada Lynx.
He certainly is the handsomest animal on the North American continent. He is smaller and more spotted than his big relative of the North. He is a beautiful reddish brown colour, with a face like a big tabby cat. He has fine large mustachios and a thick whisker under his chin; but the ear tassels of the Canada Lynx are missing. His feet are very small and dainty for such a big strapping fellow. They are not splayed and furry like the Canada Lynx. He is a great fighter and very courageous. He is smaller than the Canada Lynx and has a cunning bob-tail. He is about thirty-five inches in length.
The Bay Lynx is known as the Wild Cat, Bob Cat and Indian Devil. This animal can be easily tamed, but must be kept out in the open, winter and summer. He does not thrive in artificially heated rooms. They make delightful pets, are loving, gentle and easily tamed.
Whenever I look into his fathomless yellow eyes, I long for a home in the woodlands where I could keep several Lynxes and other wild babies, and get acquainted and become friendly with them. Their companionship must be a rare treat and well worth while.