SPORTING TERMS AND BIG CATS 351 



"DON'T INTERRUPT MY DINNER" 



panther did not attack Yellowstone -Kelly, but fol- 

 lowed him ; neither did the one in the photograph 

 attack Smith. 



All evidence seems to point to the fact that 



PANTHERS HAVE A WHOLESOME FEAR OF MAN, 



but I do not think that it would be safe to creep 

 on one's hands and knees under a limb of a tree 

 occupied by a panther. The beast under such cir- 

 cumstances might jump upon the moving object as 

 it did upon Stanley, and after it was on one's back 

 it would probably fight from fear and embarrass- 

 ment. 



In the days before Nature photographs filled all 

 our magazines with beautiful half-tones of every 

 living creature, and writers wrote of some that 



