With ria^hli-bt and Rifle 



^ 



of the leopard is drawn to any remains ot tiesh that he 

 mav hap|)en to find. 



Leopards are endowed with a good share ot slyness 

 and cunning — qualities which often make them avoid the 

 snares laid for them. A well-set trap, baited with carcase, 

 arouses their suspicion less than a wooden trap provided 

 with a live goat. When I caught a leopard in an iron 

 trap I was almost sure to get his mate a night or two 

 after. I have caught and shot male leopards that weighed 

 145 lb. ; the females weigh considerably less. 



The leopard is a most dangerous animal w hen ensnared. 

 It is an indication of his savage nature that on the approach 

 of man he always tries to get as near as possible, raging, 

 growding, and snarling the while. Should he manage to free 

 himself from the iron, he is sure to make a violent attack 

 on anv one near. He climbs up the tree as lar as the 

 chains of the snare will allow. 



One morning I was informed that a leopard had been 

 caught in a small trap which Orgeich, my taxidermist, had 

 set the night before. " It is well set." he said briefly. " he 

 will be caught fast ! " This assurance strengthened my 

 belief that the trap, as usual, had been fastened on to a tree- 

 trunk by means of a chain. Mv belief soon proved to 

 be an error. As I approached the place where the trap had 

 been set, a little bushy spot in the Fori, 1 saw the leopard 

 making for me some hundred and fifty paces oft. trailing after 

 him quite easily the iron chain and a wooden stake attached. 

 This all happened so cjuickly that I had barely time to 

 spring behind a little thorn-bush, whence I killed the 

 enrao'ed beast with a well-aimed shot. 



408 



