LEOPARD. 



391 



dogs, leopards ^ are frequently brought into collision -u-ith Indian villagers : and a 

 leopard being mobbed in a garden, or field of sugar-cane or standing corn, from 

 which he will charge sevei-al times, and bite and claw half a dozen before he is 

 despatched or makes his escape, is no unconnnon occurrence in India. At night 

 leopards frequently find their way into goat-folds or calf -pens, climbing over walls 

 or the roofs of native huts in their burglai-ious inroads, and carrying ofl:' their prey 

 with great boldness and agilitj'. They appear to have a peculiar ^jchoAo Hi for 

 dogs ; and I have known many villages in parts of ilj'sore where leopards were 

 numerous, in which not a dog was to be found, or perchance but one or two, 

 which would be pointed out by their owners as very lucky ones, they having 



LEOPARD 0.\ THE PKOWL. 



escaped sometimes from the very clutches of their unceasing foe, whilst their 

 companions had successively fallen victims to his stealthy attacks." 



This partiality of the leopard for dogs seems to be characteristic of the animal 

 fi'om one eml of India to the other, and there are many instances on i-ecord where 

 leopards in the hill-stations have swooped down in broad daylight and carried off 

 pet dogs from before the very eyes of their European masters or mistresses. It is 

 but rarel}- that leopards take to man-eating, but instances do occur, one of which 

 came under the notice of the present writer some j'ears ago, when a leopard carried 

 off a considerable number of persons from a village in Kashmir. In Africa the 

 general habits of the leopard appear to be very much the same as in India, Sir 

 Samuel Baker relating how, on one occasion, a dog was carried off from the very 

 middle of his camp by one of these marauders. 



In addition to dogs, which can, of course, be obtained only in the neighbour- 



1 In this extract we omit Mr. Sanderson's use of the word panther whenever he refers to the leopard. 



