THE CAT TRIBE 



47 



largest Indian tiger-skin, from one killed by the Maharaja of Cuch Behar, measures II 

 feet 7 inches. 



LEOPARDS 



LESS in size, but even more ferocious, the LEOPARD has a worse character than the tiger. 

 Living mainly in trees, and very nocturnal, this fierce and dangerous beast is less often seen than 

 far rarer animals. It is widely spread over the world, from the Cape of Good Hope to the Atlas 

 Mountains, and from Southern China to the Black Sea, where it is sometimes met with in the 

 Caucasus. There seems to be no legend of its presence in Greece, Italy, or Spain ; but it was 

 quite common in Asia Minor ; and Cicero, when governor of Cilicia, was plagued by an aristo- 

 cratic young friend in Rome to send him leopards to exhibit in ^f'cte he was giving. 



Any one who has frequented the Zoo for any time must have noticed the difference in size 

 and colour between leopards from different parts of the world. On some the ground-colour is 

 almost white, in others a clear nut-brown. Others are jet-black. Wherever they live, they are 

 cattle thieves, sheep thieves, and dog thieves. Though not formidable in appearance, they are 

 immensely strong. Sometimes one will turn man-eater. Both in India and lately in Africa cases 

 have been known where they have " set up " in this line as deliberately as any tiger. They have 

 four or five young at a birth, which may often be kept tame for some time and are amusing pets. 

 But the following plain story shows the danger of such experiments. At Hongkong an English 

 merchant had a tame leopard, which was brought into the room by a coolie for the guests to see 

 at a dinner party. Excited by the smell of food, it refused to go out when one of the ladies, 

 who did not like its looks, wished for it to be removed. The man took hold of its collar and 

 began to haul it out. It seized him by the neck, bit it through, and in a minute the coolie was 

 dying, covered with blood, on the dining-room floor ! 



The Chinese leopard ranges as far north as the Siberian tiger, and, like the latter, seems 

 to grow larger the farther north it is found. The colour of these northern leopards is very 



fh,tt bj C. R,id] 



A YOUNG LEOPARD 



The leopard cub it far more cat-like in appearance than the young tiger or lion 



[lfi,haw, N. 



