THE HUNTING LEOPARD OR CHEETAH. 279 



the syces taking out my horses for their morning 

 constitutional. All three were large dogs, half- 

 breeds, about the size of a foxhound. One of 

 them was particularly large and heavy. All had 

 broad leather collars with steel pricks to protect 

 the neck from the assaults of wild animals. The 

 horses were being promenaded along the road 

 within half-a-mile of my bungalow, when a cheetah 

 sprang out of the neighbouring bushes and seized 

 the largest of the dogs by the neck, in spite of his 

 protecting collar, and made off with him 



The cheetah is said to be the swiftest animal 

 under the sun for distances not exceeding half-a- 

 mile. In six hundred yards he could probably 

 give a fleet greyhound half the distance and 

 overtake him. The cheetah, or hunting leopard, 

 in no way resembles the ordinary leopard or 

 panther. The latter has retractile claws like the 

 cat, while the cheetah's paws are like those of 

 the dog. Most shikarees are agreed that he 

 belongs to the hyaena family, and is to that animal 

 what the greyhound is to the foxhound. Sir 

 Samuel Baker has stated that he has seen one of 

 these creatures run up the smooth trunk of a 

 tree for about fifteen feet and then crouch in the 

 fork, out of reach of its keepers, whence it could 

 only be tempted down by the offer of a ladleful 

 of warm blood taken from an antelope just slain 

 by another hunting leopard used in the morning's 

 chase. It is generally believed that the cheetah 

 is only found in the more open parts of the scrub 

 jungle of Central India, but I have killed them in 



