THE BIG GAME OF AFRICA 



the natives, more so than even the Hon, for he often plays 

 great havoc with their cattle. Not only does the daring, 

 bloodthirsty feline kill the cattle or sheep that he wants 

 to devour, but he also goes in for wholesale and wanton 

 destruction of the animals. Not infrequently has a single 

 leopard killed a dozen or more sheep and goats in one 

 night, without completely devouring a single one ; he may 

 have drunk the blood from all of them, or eaten a few 

 pounds of meat from some of the victims, while there may 

 be still others, which he does not seem to have touched, 

 after they had been killed. 



The leopard often springs upon the back of his prey, 

 killing it with a single bite in the neck, or by catching hold 

 of the animal's neck with his paws and biting through the 

 throat, or by strangling the victim. Then he invariably 

 tears his prey open with his mighty paws and generally 

 devours first the heart, lungs, and liver, licking out the 

 blood in the cavity of the chest, before he begins to devour 

 the other parts of the body. Leopards often climb up in 

 trees with chunks of meat in their mouths, which after- 

 wards they can devour at their leisure, undisturbed by 

 their mightier rival, the lion, for which they invariably 

 leave their prey, if on the ground, and instantly disappear, 

 when the king of beasts approaches. As lions cannot climb 

 trees, these are the leopards' only safe retreats. When the 

 leopard is unable to devour the whole animal killed, he 

 often drags the remainder up in a tree, so as not to have 

 it eaten by the hyenas. 



There have been recorded a good many instances where 

 leopards have turned man-eaters and killed and devoured 

 natives, mostly women and children. I once met a Kikuju 



Ii6 



