THE HUNTING LEOPARD, OR CHITA 71 



of the bush near the Crocodile River. He was frightened 

 and ran back to his picket, but in the morning, con- 

 sequent on his report, the white ranger went out and 

 found a male chita lying dead on the spot. A reedbuck 

 ram lay close by untouched ; but the dead chita had a 

 portion of its neck and shoulder eaten away. His re- 

 venge satisfied, the conqueror may have felt too sick to 

 fall to on his legitimate prey. Major Eraser reported a 

 similar case as having occurred in the Singwitsi section 

 of the Game Reserve in 1908, when a large male was killed 

 and partially devoured by another. Perhaps in such 

 cases as the above, where two males have contended 

 over a " kill," the agitation of the struggle, combined 

 with the taste of blood, have led the victor, while still 

 under the influence of excitement, more or less uncon- 

 sciously to follow his lifelong instinct of devouring what 

 he has killed. As a rule, to all beasts of prey, the flesh 

 of one of their own kind is the forbidden thing. 



Though a ruthless hunter of his natural prey, the 

 chita is perfectly inoffensive as regards man, and, when 

 wounded, seldom shows fight, presenting in this respect 

 a most remarkable contrast to his relative, the leopard. 

 Apart from the seeking of his daily bread, he is gentle 

 and timid in disposition, and is docile in captivity. 



Owing to the formation of his claws, the full-grown 

 chita is unfitted for tree climbing, though he sometimes 

 springs into low-hanging branches, or up a sloping trunk 

 when closely pursued by dogs and unable, through 

 injury or other cause, to outdistance them. I believe 

 that young animals, before their claws have become 

 worn or blunted, can climb fairly well, and I once kept 

 two small cubs at Sabi Bridge which ran up the walls 

 of the large wire netting cage in which they were confined 

 as easily as ordinary cats, and could even cling on to the 



