THE GREAT CHIR PINE FOREST 189 



After dark, leopards occasionally gave trouble. The 

 ponies occasionally snorted and refused to go forward, 

 smelling a lurking tendua or panther. Cracking a whip 

 and shouting generally kept him at a respectful distance. 

 I have several times at twihght seen a leopard cross the 

 path, and once one tried to spring on my dogs, who ran at 

 my ponies' heels. They saved their lives by running under 

 the ponies' legs, and by shouting the leopard was scared off. 



Leopards are beautiful and graceful animals, the picture 

 of cunning, audacity, and shnking timidity combined. 

 They are very common in the lower jungles and chir 

 regions — indeed, everywhere over the hills. Different 

 localities seem to be frequented by different varieties of 

 leopard or panther. I have shot the large variety 

 several times among the lower hills, and also seen and 

 shot a much smaller leopard in Gorakhpur, with longer 

 tail, and bullet head, and spots more concentrated. I 

 reared a young leopard which was brought to me in the 

 Kangra valley ; it was a nice pet, about as big as a cat, 

 and it used to delight to sit on my knee and purr ; but 

 one day it met all its claws in my leg for sheer sport, 

 which I did not appreciate, and eventually it became 

 savage, and if it got a piece of meat it would behave 

 nastily. I fed it on bread and milk, but it died in the 

 rains.* 



One evening my two spaniels rushed inside the tent 

 growling and snarling, and the chaprasi, who luckily stood 

 at the door, sang out ' Bagh, sahib, bagh .''f Coming out, 



* Fe/is Pardus or Leopardiis of Jerdon, called 'tendua' sometimes, 

 also by the natives ' bagheera,' and in the hills ' lakha bagha,' a name 

 more properly belonging to the hyena ; also ' chita ' in the plains, which 

 name belongs rather to the hunting leopard, Felis jubata, which is a 

 very distinct species. 



t Natives always apply the politest terms they can to what they 

 respect. Thus, a tiger is often put up a degree higher and called a 

 lion, ' sher' A leopard is called a tiger, ' bagh' 



