CHAKACTER OF THE PANTHER. 195 



and harsher, and more like the tiger's ; nor can I, from my 

 own knowledge, say that there is always to be found a ridge 

 in the skull of the former, or deny its existence in that of the 

 latter variety. Possibly and probably age and sex may account 

 for the presence or the absence of this occipital ridge. 



There are certain decided habits and predilections in 

 these cats which may assist us in designating them truly 

 according to their natures. Thus the greater panther 

 frequents, and prefers, grass-fields, and other jungles resorted 

 to by tigers, while the lesser is fond of canes, tangled thickets, 

 and woods, in and around human habitations, and is more 

 arboreal in its tastes and habits than the other, climbing 

 readily into high trees in search of prey, or to elude pursuit. 

 The larger variety may therefore be reasonably indicated by 

 the name of the grass panther, as it is not uncommonly called 

 in Bengal, and the lesser, the tree panther, though not the 

 " lackree-baug " in Hindostani, as Captain Williamson will 

 have it. Among the " Shikarees" of Bengal the grass panther 

 is known as the " Sona-cheetah," or the golden coloured, from 

 its paler and more yellow tawny general hue ; for the rest, 

 both varieties are indifferently called " kendooa," " tendooa," 

 and " cheeta-bagh." 



Panthers are bolder and more agile than tigers, but are 

 less than half the weight and strength of the latter ; indeed 

 their boldness amounts to impudence, and their audacity to 

 " cheek." When a pard has resolved upon becoming ag- 

 gressive, his attack is made with astonishing swiftness ; and 

 his activity is such as to enable him to spring from one to 

 another of the persons attacked, sometimes to the number of 

 half-a-dozen, who will either be struck down in rapid suc- 

 cession, or grievously clawed and bitten about the neck, arms, 

 and shoulders in the space of a few seconds. One evening 

 fourteen men were returning together from market along a 

 narrow path not far from my camp, walking, as is their wont, 

 in single file, and conversing in high-pitched voices upon their 

 ordinary topics, prices, condition of the crops, and their cases 

 in court. As they passed by some scrub-jungle and tall 



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