CREATURES OF THE WILDERNESS 127 



leopard in that country, and is cautioned to 

 distinguish between the panther, the leopard, 

 and the black leopard. As a matter of fact, 

 leaving- aside the distinct ' 'hunting-leopard," 

 already referred to, and the snow-leopard of 

 the mountains, there is, in the whole of India, 

 only one kind of leopard, though there is a 

 large race and a small race, and ordinary 

 leopards sometimes have a black cub in the 

 same litter as others of lighter colour. The 

 biggest leopard would probably not measure 

 much more than eight feet from snout to tail, 

 and the smaller type would fall a little short of 

 six feet. Its spotted skin is as familiar as the 

 tiger's stripes. 



Of the snow-leopard, or ounce, one of the most 

 beautiful of mountain carnivora, we know less 

 than of its cousins in the plains. Its food must 

 consist of the lambs of mountain sheep, though 

 the watchfulness of the argali must be a source 

 of trouble when a hungry ounce is prowling 

 after a meal, and the animal must often have 

 to content itself with marmots and such in- 

 significant prey. 



The leopard is less frightened of man than the 

 tiger, and this, with the animal's habit of lying 

 in trees, makes it an object of constant fear to 

 the natives of the jungle. Attention has been 

 drawn to the comparative scarcity of man- 

 eating leopards, but these pests are by no 



