Game Animals of India, etc. 



feeble, the panda is not difficult to capture, and examples 

 are frequently taken by the Lepchas in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Darjili ng. Nevertheless, it is seldom 

 brought to England; and up to 1896 only two 

 examples had been exhibited in the London Zoological 

 Gardens, namely, the one presented in 1869, and a 

 second purchased in 1876. Pandas have, however, 

 been kept in the Zoological Gardens at Calcutta. 



Ordinarily the panda utters a faint kind of squeak, 

 which has been compared to the chirp of a bird ; but in 

 the pairing-season it indulges in loud, unearthly cries, 

 anci when angered it will hiss and spit like a cat. The 

 young, of which there are generally two at a time, are 

 born in spring. 



THE SHORT-TAILED PANDA 



{j^luropus melanoleucus) 

 (Plate ix, fig. 7) 



The remarkable black-and-white bear-like animal 

 from Eastern Tibet, of which the head is shown in 

 plate ix, fig. 7, was long regarded as a member of the 

 family Ursidce, since in general form, and especially in 

 the shortness of the tail, it has a marked resemblance to 

 a small bear, although with a shorter and more rounded 

 head. When first described, some idea of the relation- 

 ship of this animal to the Himalayan panda was enter- 

 tained ; and it was for this reason that it was named 

 /^luropus. This presumed relationship has been con- 

 firmed by Sir E. Ray Lankester, who is of opinion that 

 the animal is a near relative of the true panda and has 

 only a remote kinship with bears. 



The first knowledge of the existence of the short- 

 tailed panda was derived from the travels of the Abbe 

 David in Eastern Tibet ; the specimens brought home 



368 



