INDIAN SHOOTING 221 



panthers in the rainy season by tracking them into patches of 

 sugar-cane, which they surrounded with men armed with spears 

 and swords (guns w^re naturally not allowed), and then hunted 

 the beast out with a pack of dogs. When panthers or bears 

 were marked down in jungle too big to be surrounded, the 

 guns were posted in trees, and the pack laid on to hunt the 

 beasts up. 



Terriers were chiefly used, but it was necessary to employ a 

 greyhound or two to prevent the beast galloping away from the 

 little dogs ; the greyhounds would not tackle, but by ranging up 

 and snapping would impede the beast's movements. Sanderson 

 had great sport with his pack, hunting bears, bison, and even 

 on one occasion a young elephant. He gives every instruction 

 for getting together a pack, but does not mention the use of grey- 

 hounds, though they would evidently have saved his heavy 

 seizers from long tiring runs. Sambur hunting with dogs in 

 Ceylon is an old-established custom, but there apparently the 

 whole pack is hunted together, while Sanderson appears to 

 have kept his seizers up till the quarry came to bay and then 

 slipped them. 



Black panthers are occasionally found, but they are merely 

 instances of melanism, several cases of a single black cub 

 in a litter being recorded. As a rule, these black specimens 

 are only found in heavy forests, not in the more open ground, 

 and they are more common in the south of India than the 

 north. There is a lovely stuffed specimen in the British 

 Museum, upon which the markings are just discernible in 

 certain lights. 



H 



VI. THE CLOUDED PANTHER {Felis Diardii vel Macrocelis) 



Native names : ' Tungmar ' Lepcha ; ' Zik ' Bhotia ; ' Lamchitta ' 

 of the Khas tribe {Sterndale) 



This panther seems to be entirely a forest animal. It extends 

 from Nepal eastwards through Assam. 



Kinloch gives an instance of one having been shot, but 



