THE CHEETA OR HUNTING- LEOPARD. 331 



faster, since he can give the antelope a start of a hundred yards and catch 

 him in another two hundred ; and the antelope is the fastest known animal 

 in the world, the greyhound having no chance of running him down on the 

 hard soil which he usually roams over. The great depth of chest, long 

 forearm, hocks nearly down to the ground, light sinewy limbs, prominent 

 elbow-joints, and very light waist, all denote his vast speed. 



" The cheeta is tamed and taught to hunt antelope. For this sport he 

 is never caught until he has come to his full strength, for if caught young 

 he never acquires the speed and power necessary to course and kill the 

 antelope. Himting-leopards used to be kept a good deal by wealthy 

 natives for the sport they show, and sometimes by European gentlemen. 

 They become very tractable and tame, though, being kept for coursing only, 

 and not as pets, they are not allowed to run loose. They are not more 

 formidable than a large dog, and I never heard of their attacking man." 



Jerdon says : " I had a young one brought to me at Saugor, only a 

 very few days old. I brought it up with some greyhound pups, and they 

 soon became excellent friends. Even when nearly full grown it would 

 play with the dogs (who did not over-reUsh its bounding at them), and was 

 •always sportive and frolicsome. It got much attached to me, at once 

 recognising its name (Billy), and it would follow me on horseback like a 

 dog, every now and then sitting down for a few seconds, and then racing 

 on after me. It was very fond of being noticed, and used to purr just like 

 a cat. It used to climb on any high object — the stump of a tree, a stack 

 of hay — and from this elevated perch watch all round for some moving 

 object. As it grew up it took first to attacking some sheep I had in the 

 compound, but I cured it of this by a few sound horse- whippings ; then it 

 would attack donkeys, and get well kicked by them ; and when not half- 

 grown it flew one day at a tame full-grown nil-ghai, and mauled its legs 

 very severely before it could be called off. I had some chikaras {Gazella 

 Bennetii) caught, and let loose before it to train it. The young cheeta 

 almost always caught them easily, but it wanted address to pull them down, 

 and did not hold them. Occasionally, if the antelope got too far away, it 

 would give up the chase ; but if I then slipped a greyhound, it would at 

 once follow the dog and join the chase." 



Regarding the mode of coursing antelope with the cheeta, Dr Jerdon 

 quotes as foUows from Buchanan Hamilton : " On a hunting-party the 

 cheeta is carried on a cart, hooded, and when the game is raised the hood is 

 taken off. The cheeta leaps down, sometimes on the opposite side to its prey, 

 and pursues the antelope. If the latter are near the cart the cheeta springs 

 forward with a surpassing velocity, perhaps exceeding that which any other 



