n8 DAYS AND NIGHTS OF SHIKAR 



in him it was his calf that had been killed asked 

 to be allowed to drive it back in his victoria, which 

 he had kept there ready, to the bungalow, where we 

 arrived about midnight. 



I believe there were all sorts of yarns going about 

 the station after this, such as " During evening 

 service at about half-time, the padre paused and said, 

 ' We must now bring the service to a close. I see 

 it is drawing near sunset and the panther may soon 

 be expected; so it is requested that, under the 

 circumstances, the congregation shall retire quietly 

 and disperse as quickly as possible so as not to alarm 

 the animal should he be near.' " 



Sultan, an ex-policeman, who had often been out 

 shooting with me in this district, came into the 

 bungalow at Satara one day to see the skins. He was 

 a very knowledgeable man in jungle matters and I 

 was much interested in seeing him point out the 

 differences at once in the leopard skins that were 

 hanging on the walls, and giving histories of where 

 each one lived. There were three sorts there, he 

 said, of identically the same animal (panther and 

 leopard being, of course, two names for the same 

 animal), which only varied under the conditions in 

 which they lived. " This, 11 pointing to a big one 

 with short fine hair, " does not live in the forest at 

 all : he is only to be found in hot open places where 

 there is no shade, especially bare rocky hills, and he 

 grows to a great size. He is called kerkla, or kerka 

 biboa." This was so, a panther shot in the Ahmed- 

 nagar district. " That one " another big one shot 

 in Kanara " is extraordinarily stealthy, he never 



