498 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1891. 



The panther let the bakri pass and as it disappeared slowly in the jungle, 

 he got up and looked at it, yawned, and cauie on towards the kill. He 

 walked past the kill simply sniffing at it and would have gone under our tree, 

 but H. who had the first shot planted a ball in his head, and the fun was over. 



My reason for sending you this account is that I have always been led to 

 believe that deer and antelopes had such a keen sense of smell that it would 

 be impossible for them to approach within five yards of a panther without 

 being made aware of its presence. It is true there was little or no wind that 

 evening, and the bakri was between the panther and the kill. 



Possibly other sportsmen have had similar experiences, and I for one should 

 be much indebted for any information on the subject." 



No. X.— THE TEMPER OF ANIMALS. 



The old theory that animal good-temper might be accounted for on the 

 ground that animals are sensible of pleasure and pain, but not of advantage 

 and disadvantage, was only a half-truth, for animals are subject to jealousy, 

 and jealousy is the direct result of a feeling of personal disadvantage. But it 

 draws attention to the fact that occasions for disagreement in the case of 

 most animals are rare and unusual. Questions of domicile are almost the 

 sole ground of discord in the animal world, with the exception of the fierce 

 dissensions raised at pairing-time, and even in the last case combat is only 

 general in the case of polygamous animals. Deer fight more fiercely than 

 wolves, and wild sheep than lions ; and though there is, or was, an eagle in the 

 Zoo which was caught locked in the talons of another eagle when fighting in 

 the spring, the fiercest birds are usually friendly with their own species, and 

 while ruffs and black-game fight like gladiators for their wives, the eagles and 

 the peregrines as a rule mate in peace. Proximity, the severest trial to human 

 temper, seldom ruffles the animal mind, and different species live in harmony 

 together, each seeming, as in the case of the owls and the prairie-dogs, or 

 rooks and starlings, rather to prefer than shun the society of the other. The 

 choicest spots for homes are naturally the source of warfare among birds, and 

 other animals frequently fight for the possession of some favourite breeding- 

 place. Badgers and foxes which have shared the same earth during winter 

 often fight for sole possession in the spring, .when the fox invariably wins, a 

 result which would hardly be expected from the relative physique of the two 

 animals. But such quarrels are only for the sake of rearing their young, not 

 for selfish reasons ; and even apprehended pressure on the food-supply rarely 

 excites ill-will, except in the case of the largest carnivorous birds and animals," 

 which require a wider range for hunting, and drive their young to other 

 districts. The rodents and ruminants are less jealous; and that strong social 

 and gregarious instinct which the existence of ill-temper as a permanent 

 characteristic would inevitably destroy, keeps them together in peace and 



