PANTHER SHOOTING 



wife's early tea, that menial exclaimed, " O, missis, 

 one cheetah done kill three donkeys ! " My wife 

 said, " Don't talk nonsense, ayah," whereupon the 

 woman asked her to look, and she got out of bed, 

 looked out of the window, and there, true enough, 

 were the carcasses of the three donkeys lying at 

 their pickets ! 



That evening his Highness the late Maharajah 

 of Mysore, accompanied by the then civil surgeon 

 of the station (Surgeon -Colonel B.), sat up in the 

 verandah between the bungalow and the compound, 

 and watched ; but they commenced their vigil far 

 too early, and went away long before any chance 

 of success could be looked for. During that night, 

 two panthers came and fed upon the donkeys, and 

 on the following morning yet another carcass lay 

 beside the three first slain, viz., that of a pariah 

 dog, which the panthers must have caught in the 

 act of regaling himself upon their prey, and so had 

 killed him too ! 



Had I been in the station, I should not have 

 expected the panthers to return in such a situation 

 until the dead of night, when all would be still. 

 After this, during my absence in carnp, great efforts 

 were made to destroy these panthers, and they were 

 eventually disposed of by natives. 



In my early days in India, while in Assam, I 

 once rode close to one of these animals, which took 

 no notice of me as I passed by. It was evening, 

 but still fairly light, when I saw some animal 

 running along the rough path in front of me. 

 I guessed that it was a jackal, until, as it jumped 



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