MAMMALIA— LEOPARD. 



191 



a cry among the natives that the head should be cut off: it was ; and, in so 

 doing, the knife came directly across the bayonet. The animal measured 

 bcarcely less than four feet from the root of the tail to the muzzle. There 

 was no tradition of a tiger having been in Jaffna before; indeed, this one 

 must have either come a distance of almost twenty miles, or have swam 

 across an arm of the sea nearly two in breadth ; fo: Jaffna stands on a 

 peninsula on which there is no jungle of any magnitude." 



THE LEOPARD. i 



This formidable and sanguinary animal is found nearly throughout the 

 whole of Africa, and in eastern and southern Asia. He usually measures 

 about three feet in length, exclusive of the tail, but sometimes reaches four 

 feet. His appearance indicates his natural disposition. He has a restless 

 eye and a sinister countenance, and all his motions are hasty and abrupt. 

 In rapidity, agility, and precision of motion, he is unrivalled by any other 

 animal ; an advantage which he owes to the strength of his muscles, the 

 suppleness of his joints, the extreme pliability of his spine, the greater 

 lateral compression of his body, and the slender proportions of his limbs, 

 His prey, on which he darts from his hiding-place, and even pursues up 

 the trees, consists of antelopes, monkeys, and the smaller quadrupeds. 

 Usually, he shuns man, but when closely pressed, he turns upon the hunter, 

 and hunger will drive him to attack, though by stealth, the human race. 



"Even among the cats," says Mr Bennett, "he is remarkable for extreme 

 sleekness and excessive agility. He is well distinguished from all the 

 other species, by the vividness of his coloring, and the beauty of his mark- 



1 Felis leopardus, Lin. 



