THE HUNTING LEOPARD 75 



Properly tamed cheetah^ make the most charming 

 pets; this is easily demonstrated by careful ex- 

 amination of menagerie specimens that have been 

 brought to Europe. Tall and graceful, with a 

 strangfe disdainful mien which seems to combine 

 the orlance of both lion and dog^ in the limits of 

 the rounded face, the hunting pard is a highly orna- 

 mental beast. Small wonder that the Egyptians 

 used to portray it on their monuments with giraffe 

 and oryx, with addax and gazelle! Extremely 

 nervous, these animals are liable to have fits if 

 frightened or chased about; when angry or alarmed 

 they lower the head, erecting the mane into a 

 stiff hackle. An excellent picture of two hunting 

 leopards in the Berlin Zoological Gardens has 

 recently been published in a book of animal photo- 

 graphs ; nervousness struggles with curiosity as they 

 stand staring with lowered heads and bristling 

 manes at some object in front of them. When 

 pleased the cheetah purrs and rubs itself against its 

 owner's knees like a cat. 



Cheetah are snared in India by springes of antelope 

 sinew pegged in the ground twenty-five to thirty feet 

 from their favourite trees, and set at various angles; 

 the animals are often caught by all four feet at once. 



1 "Trained" cheetah does not mean tamed cheetah; the animals used 

 for cour.sinj^ are in fact little V»etter than half wild, and even in the 

 chase but exert tlieir natural instincts. In 1880 one of these brutes 

 waxing rebellious so injured Mr. Irvine, assistant collector of Viza- 

 gapatani, that he died two days later ; it is only fair, however, to add 

 that tlie animal had received great provocation. 



