The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1897-03-25
THE LOUPCERViER.
Savage and Active, He Is the Terror OF
Smaller Animals.

Ii the loupcervier, or Canadian
lynx, were heavy and strong in pro-
portion to his pugnacity and savage
appearance, he would be bad Gus.
toner for man or dog to tackle"
said the man from Maine "As it
is, it takes sandy hound to do one
up even If he gets him cornered,
which is q hard thing to do. In
point of fact, the loupcervier is
buffer. He keeps himself pretty
we'll in the backwoods away from
the abodes of men, but when the
hunter or lumberman comes unex-
pectedly on one the beast is by no
means sure to run away. Though
slight of build, the loupcervierisl long
legged, and when he faces man,
his eyes glaring yellow, his gray
fur sticking out in all directions, his
tasseled ears upright, with the ugly
grin that shows his long teeth, he
isn't the sort of creature that one
would like to take up and fondle.
1t the man approach. him, he will
spit and snarl as if about to put up
a great fight, and it is only at the
last moment that he will give ground
and leap away. Even then he goes
no farther than he has to, some
times darling up a tree or to the top
OF high rock, where, ensconced on
the defensive, the temptation is
not great to follow him. In that
case, if the man have a gun, of
course the affair is quickly settled,
but otherwise the loupcervier usual
ly holds the fort.
To the smaller animals on which
he preys the loupcervier is a terror.
He is quicker than chain lightning
CREASED and'is all over the woods
at once. On the ground he Skin
mishes for rabbits and grouse, and in
the trees he captures birds and
squirrels, and, more frequently, the
young in their nests. He is dead
ly enemy to fawns left in hiding by
their mothers when they go away
to browse for dinner. Sometimes,
when pressed by hunger, he will at
tack a doe, dropping on her back
from the limb. of tree beneath
which she passes, but the results of
the experiment do not always en-
courage him to repeat it, for it i'm
plies an experience in bareback rid
ing that knocks broncho breaking
into the shade. But in winter, when
the crust formed on the deep snow
will bear up the loupcervier, he,
banded with several of his kind,
will successfully hunt the deer,
which wallow hampered in the
snow. William Cakes, land sur
veyor in Maine, once came upon a
deer which had been pursued and
killed by three loupcerviers. They
had driven the animal into the top
of q fallen tree, where, entangled
among the branches, it was an easy
victim.
1.-The loupcervier, as I have already
implied, is not cautious animal,
and he is less difficult. to trap than
most other animals of the feline
kind. Fast i'll a trap, he will put up
his back and spit and hiss at the ap-
proach of his captor, but he is easily
killed with the blow of club on the
head. He is not SO tenacious of life
as the wildcat, and a resolute dog
that is game to face his teeth and
claws for the first brief round will
make short work of him. But for
any dog not a thoroughbred the first
round is all sufficient, his sole con-
Germ thereafter being a convenient
line of retreat.
"a man firing at a loupcervier in
a tree wants to stand well away, for
if he venture within reach of his
spring, with the report of his gun
he may find the creature landed
upon him, clawing at his face, and
even if he wins he will be apt to
carry souvenirs of the encounter in
the shape of bites and scratches for
many day.
with all their savage pugnacity,
loupcerviers are sociable, playful
creatures-among themselves-and
often have been observed on moon
light nights in open spaces of the
forest OF on the ice of lakes, frol-
licking in groups, like kittens. -
New York Sun.