The Leopard and Panther 167 



apparent absence of danger lulls these astute little beasts 

 into a fatal feeling of security. 



A cattle-lifting panther, according to Pollok and Forsyth, 

 is more destructive than a tiger. On the great ranges where 

 herds graze during the time when pasture is destroyed 

 by drought in a good part of India, the depredations of 

 these beasts cost the owners dearly, and they likewise 

 take a constant toll from those animals, cows principally, 

 which are kept at villages. A buffalo under ordinary cir- 

 cumstances is safe, even if alone ; and when the herd is 

 united to resist, even he with the stripes has not the slight- 

 est chance of success. 



Cows, however, are the especial prey of panthers. In 

 India these are of comparatively small size, and preter- 

 naturally imbecile. The Bovidcs are not a gifted family at 

 their best, and when domestication relieves them to a great 

 extent from the necessity of taking care of themselves, 

 they lose much of the faculty which in wild forms is de- 

 veloped under the stress of necessity. Year after year, 

 and age after age, the panther has been murdering Indian 

 cattle in the same way, and they have never originated 

 the slightest measure of precaution or defence. The full 

 measure of their weakness of mind has been taken by the 

 enemy, and when he concludes to give up hunting, except 

 as a pastime, and live on beef, his prey may be said to 

 come to him. 



In 1863 Captain Forsyth hunted panthers on the higher 

 Narbada, under the auspices of an old shikari, an unspeak- 

 able scoundrel, who had killed more of them than anybody 

 else whose exploits the annals of sport with large game per- 



