Panthers and Leopards (Asiatic}. 279 



monkeys, and climb trees in pursuit of them, so that 

 nature has doubtless adapted their coat to suit the 

 shades in which they reside, or otherwise they would 

 be too conspicuous and so fail in obtaining food. In 

 Malaya, where the climate is very damp and the forests 

 luxuriant they are more frequently met. But isolated 

 cases crop up here and there. It is curious that 

 whilst black leopards are met with, no one has ever 

 heard of a black tiger ; l and again while there are 

 occasional white tigers, I never encountered a white 

 leopard south of the Himalaya. The size of the two 

 varieties depends of course on the quantity of food 

 obtainable. The leopard is generally found in the 

 remoter hills. The panther lives more in ravines in 

 the plains and preys upon cattle. A tiger invariably 

 commences to break up his prey at the hindquarters, 

 the panther or leopard always at the forequarters 

 or chest. The reason for this peculiarity has not 

 yet been solved. 



At Shillong, when we first went there, leopards were 

 very numerous and no one could keep a dog. Major 

 Montagu, in twelve months, caught in a trap not far 

 from his house, twelve leopards and one tiger. When 

 wounded I consider a panther or leopard more 

 dangerous than a tiger, for it is as ferocious, its body 

 much smaller to aim at, while its activity is far 

 greater. The Assamese villages are many of them 

 straggling places, and have at times either a swamp 



1 Since writing the above I have read of a melanoid tiger 

 having been killed near Chittagong, and was seen by Mr. C. T. 

 Buckland. I have seen the skins of three albino tigers, the 

 finest at Edwin Ward's, when he lived in Yere Street, and the 

 other two were obtained in the Cossyah hills. 



