THE HUNTING-LEOPARD. 203 



present. Length of head and body, about 4^ feet ; of tail, 2^ 

 feet ; height, about 2^ feet. 



Distribution. — Africa and South-western Asia, extending from 

 Persia to Western Turkestan and the countries east of the 

 Caspian, and eastwards into India. In the latter country 

 ranging over a considerable portion of the peninsula, from the 

 Punjab, through Rajputana and Central India, to the confines 

 of Bengal ; unknown on the Malabar Coast and in Ceylon, as 

 well as to the north of the Ganges. In Africa the species is 

 reported to be probably exterminated in Natal, and nearly so 

 in the Cape Colony, although a few individuals still linger in 

 the extreme north-western districts. Some also remain in the 

 more remote unsettled parts of the Transvaal; but in the 

 waterless portions of the Kalahari, as well as in parts of 

 Bechuanaland, and throughout South Central Africa, it is less 

 uncommon. 



The so-called Woolly Chita (C. la?iiger) of Africa appears to 

 be merely a variety in which the fur is more woolly and dense 

 than in the typical form, with the spots taking the shape of 

 blotches of a dark fulvous tint. As mentioned under the 

 heading of the Leopard, the name Chita is properly no more 

 restricted to the present than it is to the latter species, and it 

 is accordingly preferable to adopt the term "Hunting-Leopard." 



Habits. — While in South Central Africa this animal usually 

 haunts flat bush-clad districts, in India its favourite resorts are 

 low, isolated, rocky hills. In the former country its prey in- 

 cludes the smaller Antelopes and the fawns of the larger kinds, 

 together with Hares, the Cape Jumping-Hare (Pedetes), and 

 Guinea-fowl; while in India it subsists chiefly upon Black 

 Buck, although it also kills Gazelles, Nilgai, and probably Deer 

 and other large Mammals. Although in both continents it 

 occasionally carries off a stray Sheep, Goat, or Calf its depre- 

 dations on domesticated animals are not very serious ; and it 



