ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 93 



the room or verandah in surreptitious fashion ; at the same 

 time it was fearless, and also when young it liked to be 

 nursed. We fed it only on brown bread and milk — white 

 bread it would not touch — which it always liked, even when 

 it was grown up. Before it was well out of its kitten- 

 hood the forest instincts awoke. By day content to lie 

 up indoors, just at four o'clock it would yawn, stretch its 

 tiny limbs, and wander off, uttering a very peculiar grating 

 cry, not in the least cat-like, to prowl about just as its 

 wild brothers would do at the self-same hour ; sometimes 

 creeping in again late at night, when it was seldom hungry, 

 having perhaps had a successful raid amongst our chickens 

 if it had not been watched. 



Another curious thing about this kitten was its love of 

 water, in this differing from the ordinary household pet, 

 whose detestation of it is proverbial. It would play with 

 it from choice, often jumping on to the dinner table to dip 

 its paws into the finger-glasses. It could swim like a duck 

 too, and enjoyed crossing a narrow stream that ran through 

 the garden. Panthers are the same in this respect, proving 

 that our kitten was more panther than cat. It was, however, 

 quite friendly with our cats, though not mating with them. 



One evening a lady who was dining with us was startled 

 by seeing her dinner — a snipe — suddenly snatched off her 

 plate just as she was beginning upon it by some creature 

 that she could see was not a cat, and which she said she 

 thought was a young wild beast. It was ' Koori,' then full 

 grown, though hardly cat size. We had heard the grating 

 cry heralding a visit, but thought the sight of strangers 

 might scare him away. He knew no fear, however, with a 

 meal on that snipe in prospect. We saw him look round, 

 sniffing, and then, like a lightning-flash, leap up under our 

 guest's arm ; and the snipe was gone — ' Koori ' too ! Pursuit 

 would have been vain ; he had vanished into the darkness 

 of the garden, and was no more seen that night. 



