728 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XV. 



and I heard no sounds of anything ; but in the morning my native shikari told 

 me that the other goat had been killed about 4 a.m., and that one hind leg bad 

 been eaten ; so the next night I sat over this kill, and had the other goat taken 

 back to the village. 



The kill was lying in the dry stony bed of a stream which at this spot had 

 low banks ; there were a few big boulders about, but these were not in the way 

 for shooting. About twenty yards away there was a very small pool of water, 

 but this was just out of sight of the machhaan, which was placed about 20 

 yards from the goat in a tree about 15 feet from the ground. 



I got into the machhaan at 5-15, but nothing appeared, except mongoose and 

 birds to drink, till 8-30, when a panther suddenly rushed up the nala, making a 

 good deal of noise and seized the goat by the remaining hind leg and tried 

 to drag it off, but it was firmly tied to a bush stump. He then rushed away 

 to the pool to drink, and at 8-40 p.m. again returned to the kill. It was then 

 only just light enough to see the panther, as the moon had not risen. I had 

 two shots and missed both barrels, the panther going away to my right in 

 some thin bushy jungle broken up with small nalas. 



At 9-45 p.m. I heard a panther growl almost directly underneath where 

 I was sitting, but I could not see it, as the machhaan and tree were in the way. 

 At 11-20 a second panther came and I again missed with both barrels ; this 

 panther was only a half-grown cub judging from its size; as it was very small 

 indeed. It went away to the right front into the same piece of jungle as the 

 first panther had gone. 



From midnight till 1-15 a.m. there was continuous growling about 30 to 50 

 yards away to the right front, where the two panthers had gone. At 

 1-20 a.m. a third panther came to the goat and began to eat, and this time 

 I wounded it slightly, as in the morning we discovered a few drops of blood 

 about 20 yards from the goat in the direction where it had gone, to the left 

 front, but the ground was too hard for tracking, and we never found it. 



At 3-40 a.m. a fourth panther started eating, but this time I had better 

 luck and shot it dead first shot, the bullet entering the right side of the nose and 

 breaking away two inches of the lower left jaw bone; he evidently died practically 

 at once, as I never saw or heard him move again and we found him with his head 

 lying in the middle of the goat's body. 



At 4-3 a.m. there was a good deal of growling close to the goat but inside 

 the line of bushes, and I could see nothing; but at 4-7 a.m. I saw a panther 

 walking round the goat in a circle of about 5 yards radius, looking at the dead 

 panther (a male — this one, the fifth, was a female). This time again I 

 killed it first shot, the bullet breaking the back-bone, 'and I found her in the 

 morning in the exact place where she was when I fired ; she answered the 

 shot with a deep growl, but I never saw or heard her move again, and she must 

 have also died almost at once. 



At 4-30 a.m. the moon went behind a big hill and it got very dark ; however- 

 nothing more came and at 5-30 a m. I got down and inspected the results. 



