THE RACOON 229 



attempted in the hot season, and the tiger is either 

 driven by beaters past a tree on which the sportsman 

 sits, or followed up, either on an elephant or on foot. 

 Occasionally, especially when a tiger has been wounded, 

 a herd of buffaloes are employed to drive him out of the 

 cover, which they do very effectually, charging him in a 

 body if he does not retreat. Tigers captured young, 

 are easily tamed, and many of the adult animals in 

 menageries are perfectly good-tempered, and fond of 

 being noticed and caressed by those whom they know. 

 They have repeatedly bred in confinement, although not 

 so freely as lions, and the cubs more rarely thrive. 



That beautifully spotted animal, the leopard, or pan- 

 ther, is a cat which has a very wide range, namely, from 

 Algeria to Cape Colony in Africa, and in Asia from 

 Palestine, China and Japan, to Ceylon, Java, Sumatra, 

 and Borneo. In early times it also existed, as we know 

 from fossils, in Great Britain, France, Germany, and 

 Spain. Perfectly black leopards, which, however, in 

 certain lights, show the characteristic markings of the 

 fur, are not uncommon. The habits of leopards differ 

 materially from those of tigers. The leopard is much 

 more lithe and active, climbs trees readily, and makes 

 immense bounds clear off the ground. It is as blood- 

 thirsty and ferocious as any of the cat tribe ; it is bolder 

 than the tiger, and not uiifrequently attacks our own 

 race. Instances have been known of one becoming a 

 regular man-eater, and such a leopard is said to have 

 killed in two years no less than two hundred human 

 beings. Leopards are very fond of eating dogs and 

 jackals, and are terrible foes to monkeys. The ounce is 

 a lighter-coloured leopard, with longer fur, which inhabits 

 the highlands of Central Asia, ascending to altitiides of 

 from 9000 to 18,000 feet above the sea. The American 



