Pelts 



it of its danger, I do not know. It is doubtless the 

 results of civilization acting on the animal in- 

 telligence, and causing it to lose what man has so 

 hopelessly lost, the finer instincts and senses of the 

 wild animals. My friend having received khubbar 

 of ' spots' ' nightly performances, had a bed put 

 on to the flat roof of his house, and spent a week 

 of brilliant moonlight nights sitting up for the sly 

 cat. Needless to say, he never saw a trace of him. 

 Knowing the house, I often wonder whether friend 

 pard sat in the shadow of a bamboo clump on the 

 edge of a nullah situated about 40 yards from 

 the building, and from that safe vantage-point sur- 

 veyed my friend's form silhouetted against the 

 sky up above him. 



Leopards are, of course, often shot in tiger 

 beats, whether from the howdah, machan, or on 

 foot, as should they be within the beaten area they 

 must either try and sneak out at the side, quit it 

 in front, or lie dogo, which is a favourite trick of 

 theirs, and let the beat pass over them. Any one 

 of these proceedings they often accomplish with 

 safety. 



I suppose many a leopard is lost in this way, 

 often through the carelessness or laziness of the 

 beaters. When men are employed to beat, the 

 most stringent orders should be issued that no 

 bush or tussock of grass is to be passed without 

 either being beaten with a stick or having stones 

 or clods of earth thrown into it. In order to en- 



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