160 WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WAYS CHAP. 



The panther or larger variety of leopard is about 7 ft. 6 in. in 

 length, and has been known to approach closely upon 8 feet, but 

 this would be an unusual si/c. This animal is exceedingly power- 

 ful, with massive neck and strongly developed legs. The weight 

 of a fine s]>eciiucn would be from about 160 Ibs. to 170 Ibs. 

 Although heavy, there is no animal more active, except the monkey, 

 and even those wide-awake creatures are sometimes caught by the 

 ever-watchful panther. Stories are told of accidents that have 

 occurred when the hunter has been pulled out of his tree, from 

 which imaginary security he was watching for his expected game. 

 It is impossible to deny such facts, although they are fortunately 

 rare exceptions to the general rule ; but there can be no doubt 

 that a panther or leopard would attack upon many occasions when 

 a tiger would prefer to Blink away. 



The habits of the leopard are invariably the same, it prowls 

 stealthily about sunset and throughout the night in search of prey. 

 It seizes by the throat and clings with tenacious claws to the 

 animal's neck, until it succeeds either in breaking the spine, or in 

 strangling its victim, should the bone resist its strength. When 

 the animal is dead, the leopard never attacks the hind-quarters 

 first, according to the custom of the tiger, but it tears the belly 

 open, and drags out all the viscera, making its first meal upon the 

 heart, lungs, liver, and the inside generally. It then retreats to 

 some neighbouring hiding-place, and, if undisturbed, it will return 

 to its prey a little after sundown on the following day. 



It is far more difficult to circumvent a leopard than a tiger ; 

 the latter seldom or never looks upwards to the trees, therefore it 

 does not perceive the hidden danger when the hunter is watching 

 from his elevated post ; but the leopard approaches its kill in the 

 most wary and cautious manner, crouching occasionally, and 

 examining every yard of the ground before it, at the same time 

 scanning the overhanging boughs, which it so frequently seeks as 

 a place of refuge. Upon many occasions, when the disappointed 

 watcher imagines that the leopard has forsaken its kill, and that 

 his patience will be unrewarded, the animal may be closely 

 scanning him from the dense bush, imder cover of which it was 

 noiselessly approaching. In such a case the leopard would retreat 

 as silently as it had advanced, and the watcher would return home 

 from a fruitless vigil, under the impression that the leopard had 

 never been within a mile of his position. One of the cleverest 

 birds in creation is the ordinary crow of all tropical countries, 

 which lives well by the exercise of its wits ; nothing escapes the 

 observation of this bird, and it is the first to discover the body of 



