JUNGLE HUNTER 267 



hold of the victim's shoulder. Many of the hun- 

 ters I have met, and some of the authors I have 

 read, appear to consider the black leopard a dis- 

 tinct species; but it is simply a freak cub of the 

 ordinary spotted leopard, just as the silver and the 

 black fox are freaks of the common red. In a 

 litter from a red vixen I have seen a silver among 

 red pups; and I met a man in the jungle where 

 lower Siam meets the Malay Peninsula who had 

 found a black among the spotted leopard's cubs. 

 Upon the latter, however, the spots are never 

 very clearly defined until they become older. In 

 other experiences of leopard and panther hunting 

 throughout Malaya I came to enjoy it even more 

 than the style of hunting there made necessary 

 for tiger. The panther, which is a larger edition 

 of the leopard, is not so strong, or so formidable 

 an opponent in a fight, but is much more active 

 than a tiger and is aroused more easily and is 

 bolder in its attack. Then, too, its tree-climbing 

 habits make it both dangerous and elusive. In 

 some respects, it is the more interesting and sport- 

 ing animal to stalk, though, of course, as a trophy 

 it is not valued like the tiger, nor has it the majesty 

 of his Royal Stripes, or the tremendous onslaught 

 when the attack is driven home. 



My leopard measured five feet six inches from 

 the tip of its nose to the end of its tail, and was 



