THE LEOPARD 49 



mammal or bird. Baboons and monkeys, cane rats and 

 other rodents, large and small, and of all sorts, are eaten, 

 as well as guinea-fowl, francolins, and in fact any feathered 

 creature which can be captured at night upon its roost, 

 not even the larger birds of prey escaping. A leopard 

 which clings closely throughout the year to some bush 

 near the ranger's station on the Ngwanitzi River, and 

 whose habits were carefully observed by the officer for 

 several months, seems to have subsisted, during that 

 time, entirely upon birds and small mammals ; at any 

 rate no trace of anything larger than a cane rat having 

 been killed was ever noticed. 



Leopards with porcupine quills sticking in their feet 

 and bodies are occasionally brought to bag, but are never, 

 in our experience, so thin and wasted as are lions in 

 similar cases. Perhaps their method of hunting, con- 

 sisting as it does so largely of lying quietly in wait for 

 their prey, handicaps them less when thus crippled. 

 Something, too, they may owe to their great natural 

 cunning and activity, which enables them to elude the 

 sharp spines, which form the porcupine's sole, but far 

 from contemptible, method of defence. It is said that 

 they hesitate to attack full-grown male warthogs and 

 bush pigs, though they prey freely upon females and 

 immature animals. As I have known large boars of 

 both species put up a good fight even against lions, and 

 a lioness actually killed by one of the former, this is 

 quite likely to be the case. A solitary wild dog will be 

 pounced on and devoured, but should a band of these 

 bush pirates be encountered, the leopard will lose no 

 time in seeking safety. No kinship with the viver- 

 rines is recognized, and remains of genet cats are not 

 infrequently found, which obviously had formed 

 meals for leopards. In such cases the fur had been 



