INDIAN SHOOTING 223 



shoot one : find a tree with tracks three days old, and sit up 

 in it on the fourth morning. 

 Sterndale says : 



Chita kittens are quite grey without any spots, but can always 

 be recognised by the black stripe down the nose, and on cutting off 

 a bit of the soft hair I noticed that the spots are quite distinct in 

 the under fur. As a rule the young of all cats, even the large one- 

 coloured species, such as the lion and puma, are spotted, but the 

 hunting leopard is externally an exception, although the spots are 

 there lying hid. 



Hunting antelope with chitas has been described ad 

 nauseam, and is in the opinion of the writer very poor sport. 

 It is worth witnessing once, if only to see how fast a chita 

 can go. 



VIII. THE OUNCE, OR SNOW LEOPARD (Felis Uncia) 

 Generally, ' Safed Chita ' ; Thibet, ' Stian ' 



The ounce is fairly common on the higher ranges ; there 

 are few ibex grounds on which its tracks will not occasionally 

 be seen, but owing to its nocturnal habits it is very rarely 

 met with. It preys chiefly on ibex and burrel, and rarely, if 

 ever, descends to the forest line. It will kill sheep and goats. 

 A farm in Lahoul, belonging to the Moravian missionaries, 

 suffered considerably in 1884 from the depredations of a pair 

 of ounces that lived in the valley behind Kielang. The male 

 of this pair was killed by an officer of the Royal Artillery, who 

 saw the ounce on his return from shooting late in the evening. 

 The next day he went back up the nullah prepared to spend 

 the night out, shot a young male ibex and dragged the carcase 

 down to where he had seen the ounce the day before. Just at 

 dusk the ounce came to the bait and was missed clean with 

 the first barrel ; however, the sportsman, being highly favoured 

 by the gods, bagged him with a second shot, and next morning 

 brought him in triumph down to Kielang. The skin was a 

 beauty, very pale yellowish white with black spots and black 

 rings on the thick furry tail. 



