Game Animals of India, etc. 



occurs in the lion. As a rule, leopards are silent 

 animals, although when charging they utter a short 

 growl ; but when on the prowl they occasionally give 

 vent to a harsh cry, quite different from the roar of a 

 tiger, and somewhat intermediate between a grunt and 

 a cough. 



Although leopards were at one time hunted by the 

 troopers of the Central Indian Horse by beating them 

 out from patches of sugar-cane during the rainy season 

 with the aid of a pack of dogs, and then spearing them, 

 while they are often speared by parties of two or three 

 mounted Europeans, the more general plan is either to 

 watch for them by night in a machan over a tethered 

 bait or a " kill," or to drive them from covert with a 

 line of beaters. Machan-shooti ng is weary work, and 

 requires a large stock of patience on the part of the 

 watcher. As leopards usually go in search of water 

 between seven and eight in the evening, and again 

 between five and six in the morning, it is at such times 

 that they most frequently approach the bait ; the 

 majority of tethered baits being seized between the 

 time of sunset and an hour after. In the dim twilight 

 the spots of the leopard harmonise so exactly with the 

 speckled shade of the surrounding foliage that unless 

 the watcher make the best use of his eyes, the marauder 

 will be only too likely to have sprung upon the bait 

 before its presence is even suspected. 



The following hints on machan -shooting are given 

 by a writer in the Asian newspaper of February 27, 

 1900 : — 



" If you have had a kill, go early to your machan, 

 and take the precaution to have the kill securely 

 tied or hung to some fixed object, or you may find the 

 leopard carry it off without giving you a chance. If 

 you are to sit over a live goat, see first that the machan 

 is so constructed as to give you the advantage of rising 

 ground if there be any. Take care that the rope ot 

 the goat is not too long, or you will find it difficult to 



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