The Lynx　猞猁

The body of the lynx,beautifully spotted with black and brown rings,is more solid and hardy than that of the wild cat.His ears are longer,his tail is shorter,his great eyes light up like bright flames;and since he prowls about chiefly at night,he is thought to have very keen sight.For this reason,when we wish to say that a person can see very clearly or can look beyond the outward appearance of things,we call him lznxeyed.Like all cats,the lynx possesses in his mustache a very correct power of feeling.This,with the sense of hearing and sight,guides him in all his expeditions.The lynx in the picture is in the act of springing upon a timid hare.Although he can measure twenty paces in a jump,I think for once he has made a misstep,and the dear little creature with one more bound will be safe.One very remarkable fact about these animals is this:if there are several together,and one starts over the snow in pursuit of booty,all the others will follow in exactly the same tracks,so that it will look as if but one lynx had passed over the snow-covered earth.

猞猁身上点缀着黑色和棕色小圈，非常漂亮，而且，身体比野猫还结实。它耳朵较长，尾巴稍短，目光炯炯，像两团燃烧的火焰。因为猞猁主要是晚上出来活动，所以，大家都认为它的视力特别好。也正因如此，如果一个人的眼神很好，或者能透过事物的表面看清其本质，我们就会说他长了“猞猁眼”。和所有的猫科动物一样，猞猁的胡子具有很强的感觉能力，超常的感觉加上超常的听觉和视觉，使猞猁在所有的行动中都游刃有余。图片中的这只猞猁正在扑向一只受惊的野兔。尽管它一下就能跳二十步，可是它可能不小心失了脚，所以那只可怜的小野兔再蹦一下就可以躲过一劫了。这种动物还有一个让人称奇的特点：好几只猞猁在一起时，如果其中一只去追猎物，其余猞猁也会一步不差地沿着它的足迹去追。这样，从雪地上留下的脚印来看，跑过去的就像是一只猞猁，而不是好几只。