the
feet striking the ground nearly at the same instant. Powerful as
the animal is, it is easily killed by a blow on the
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back, a slight stick being a sufficient weapon wherewith to destroy
the creature. For this reason the "Dead-fall" is particularly adapted
for its capture, and is very successful, as the animal possesses
very little cunning, and will enter an enclosure of any kind without
the slightest compunction, when a tempting bait is in view. The
dead-fall should of course be constructed on a large scale, and
it is a good plan to have the enclosure deep, and the bait as far
back as will necessitate the animal being well under the suspended
log in order to reach it. The bait may consist of a dead quadruped
or of fresh meat of any kind.

The Gun trap, page 20, and the Bow trap, page 23, will also be
found efficient, and a very powerful twitch-up, constructed from a
stout pole and extra strong wire will also serve to good purpose.
The lynx is not so prolific as many of the feline tribe, the number
of its young seldom exceeding two, and this only once a year. The
fur of the animal is valuable for the purposes to which the feline
skin is generally adapted, and commands a fair price in the market.
Those who hunt or trap the lynx will do well to choose the winter
months for the time of their operations, as during the cold season
the animal possesses a thicker and warmer fur than it offers in
the summer months.

When the steel trap is used, it should be of size No. 4, page
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141, set at the opening of a pen of stakes, the bait being placed
at the back of the enclosure in such a position, as that the animal
will be obliged to step upon the pan of the trap in order to reach
it. Any of the devices described under "Hints on Baiting" will
be found successful.

The skin of the animal may be removed as directed in the case of
the fox, being drawn off the body whole, or it may be removed after
the manner of the beaver, and similarly stretched.

THE WILD CAT.

This animal is one of the most wide-spread species of the Cat tribe,
being found not only in America, but throughout nearly the whole
of Europe as well as in Northern Asia. In many parts of the United
States, where the wild cat was wont to flourish, it has become
exterminated, owing to civilization and the destruction of forest
lands.

Many naturalists are of the opinion that the wild cat is the original
progenitor of our domestic cat, but