FELIs. 179 
No. 202. FELIS PARDUS. 
The Pard ( Jerdon’s No. 105). 
NativE Names.—Zendua, Chita or Chita-bagh, Adnara; Hindi, 
Ffoniga; Canarese, Asnea; Mahratti, Chinna puli; Telegu, Burkal ; 
Gondi, Bay-heera ; and Tahr-hay in the Himalayas. 
Hapsitat.—Throughout India, Burmah, and Ceylon, and extending 
to the Malayan Archipelago. 
DEscriIpTion.—A clean, long limbed, though compact body ; hair 
close and short ; colour pale fulvous yellow, with clearly defined spots 
in rosettes ; the head more tiger-like than the next species; the 
skull is longer and more pointed, with a much developed occipital 
ridge. 
Size.—Head and body from 4% to sh feet ; tail from 30 to 38 inches. 
This is a powerful animal and very fierce as a rule, though in the case 
of a noted man-eater I have known it exhibit a curious mixture of 
ferocity and abject cowardice. It is stated to be of a more retiring 
disposition than the next species, but this I doubt, for I have frequently 
come across it in the neighbourhood of villages to which it was probably 
attracted by cattle. It may not have the fearlessness or impudence of 
the panther, which will walk through the streets of a town and seize and 
devour its prey in a garden surrounded by houses, as I once remember, 
in the case of a pony at Seonee, but it is nevertheless sufficiently bold to 
hang about the outskirts of villages. Those who have seen this animal 
once would never afterwards confuse it with what I would call the 
panther. ‘There isa sleekness about it quite foreign to the other, and a 
brilliancy of skin with a distinctness of spots which the longer, looser 
hair does not admit of. But with all these external differences I am 
aware that there will be objection to classifying it as a separate species, 
unless the osteological divergences can be satisfactorily determined, 
and for this purpose it would be necessary to examine a large series 
of authenticated skulls of the two kinds. 
The concurrence of evidence as to the habits of this species is that it 
is chiefly found in hilly jungles preying on wild animals, wild pigs, and 
monkeys, but not unfrequently, as I know, haunting the outskirts of 
villages for the sake of stray ponies and cattle. The largest pard I have 
ever seen was shot by one of my own shikaris in the act of stalking a 
pony near a village. I was mahseer-fishing close by at the time, and 
had sent on the man, a little before dusk, to a village a few miles off, to 
arrange for beating up a tiger early next ‘day. Jerdon says this is the 
kind most common in Bengal, but he does not say in what parts of 
Bengal, and on what authority. I have no doubt it abounds in Sontalia 
N 2 
