Odd Items in Bobcat Stomachs

Abstract

These brief remarks on stomach contents of wild bobcats, Lynx rufus, are occasioned by my recent unearthing of eight poorly preserved specimens, each a stomach and small intestine, cryptically tagged “Cat Stomachs.” Two of them were further labeled, “Wild Cat—shot ahead of dogs in Montmorency County, Mich. Dec. 12, 1932. Reported to be eating snowshoe hares.” Measurements of the animals were appended. No data accompanied the others, but it seems probable that all eight represent approximately the same locality and date. Three of the specimens were practically empty (moist contents less than 10 cc); contents of one measured 160 cc, of another 358 cc, and of the remaining three from 55 to 75 cc. The contents of all were, for the most part, unrecognizable. However, one stomach and one intestine contained tightly packed masses of the nematode Physaloptera praeputialis?, kindly identified by William D. Lindquist. This genus has previously been reported by Hamilton and Hunter (Jour. Wildl. Mgt., 3: 99–103, 1939) as common in Vermont bobcats.