SNO W-LEOPARD. 



393 



never been within a mile of his position. . . . There is very little sport afforded by 

 this stealthy animal, and it is almost useless to organise a special hunt, as it is 

 impossible to form any correct opinion respecting its locality after it has killed an 

 animal. It may either be asleep in some distant ravine, or among the giant 

 branches of some old tree, or beneath the rocks of some adjacent hill, or retired 

 within a cave, but it has no special character or custom that would guide the 

 hunter in arranging a beat according to the usual rules in the case of tigers." 



Leopards are, however, much less suspicious of traps than are tigers, and still 

 more so than lions, and, accordingly, a large number are thus caught. In India 

 they are frequently taken alive in the cage-trap, to which we have already referred 

 under the head of the tiger ; such traps being generally baited with a dog, goat, or 

 calf, which attracts the leopard by its cries. In Africa a trap like a large fox-trap 

 is, however, generally employed ; and so bold in some parts are leopards that Mr. 

 Hunter states that once during dinner-time he caught one in a trap which was 

 set within fifteen yards' distance of the table at which he was sitting. 



THE SNOW-LEOPARD (^ nat. size). 



THE SNOW-LEOPARD, OR OUNCE (Felis uncia). 



The snow-leopard, or ounce, has been known to science for more than a century, 

 but its habitat was long a mystery. This splendid animal is nearly allied to the 

 leopard, from which it differs in the more arched form of the skull, as well as in 

 coloration and its much longer fur. The long fur is thick, and almost of a woolly 

 nature ; the ground-colour of the upper-parts being a pale whitish -grey, occasionally 

 with a faint yellow tinge, passing into pure white beneath. The black spots are 

 much larger than those of the leopard, and over' the greater part of the skin form 



