CHAPTER XII. 



Panthers and Panther-shooting Very numerous, and increasing Spear- 

 ing Panthers on Horseback Comfortable Lairs made by Wild 

 Hog Good Sport A Ludicrous Adventure Hunting Panthers 

 with Dogs A Man-eating Minx A Quick Shot Difficulty expe- 

 rienced in obtaining Accurate Description of Animals from Natives 

 The Clouded Panther The Black Panther The "Cheeta," or 

 Hunting Leopard. 



PANTHERS are so numerous throughout Bengal that they may 

 be met with any day by the sportsman who is out snipe or 

 partridge shooting, hog-hunting, or coursing, a field of grass 

 or a patch of scrub or thorns sufficing to afford them shelter 

 and concealment by day. The reasons for their increase in 

 and around the small civil stations of late years may be 

 many ; such as a decline of sporting tastes among the Euro- 

 pean civil officials ; the disappearance from many districts of 

 indigo planters and factories, the men mighty Nimrods in 

 their day, and their hospitable houses the frequent rendez- 

 vous of hunting and shooting parties ; the augmentation of 

 Native officials in almost all branches of the Administration, 

 persons who rarely possess a gun or a riding-horse, and who 

 would not face even a wolf or a hyena if they had either ; 

 and lastly, the extermination of deer and small game, the 

 ordinary prey of panthers, which are now compelled to 

 satisfy their hunger by depredations made upon the flocks 

 and herds around human habitations, and consequently are 

 more frequently seen than formerly, when they kept aloof 

 from man in the dense jungles which then covered the greater 

 portion of the country. 



Both varieties are more plentiful in Eastern and 



