214 SPORT IN BENGAL. 



taken the panther. Fastening up the greyhounds, and 

 leaving the panther tree'd and " minded " by the rest, I 

 galloped home as hard as I could go for a gun, and returning 

 in twenty minutes with a double smooth-bore, loaded with 

 bullets, dropped our feline friend with a shot through the ribs, 

 close to the heart ; and no sooner did he touch the ground 

 than he was pounced upon by the dogs, the smallest of which 

 a Scotch terrier seized his tail by the tip and tugged at it 

 most manfully to draw him out of the low undergrowth into 

 which he had fallen close to the root of the tree, while the 

 rest tackled him by the ears and throat, he being too spent to 

 attack them in return. 



This little incident cost me rather dear, since the two 

 finest bull-terriers died shortly afterwards from wounds re- 

 ceived in a fight while I was away; the groom and dog- 

 keeper stating that as soon as I was out of sight and hearing, 

 the panther, descending among the dogs, had indulged them 

 with a fight, but had been worsted by the little heroes, but 

 not without three of their number being hurt more or less. 



Both varieties are dangerous to human life, the larger not 

 unfrequently becoming determined man-hunters and eaters ; 

 the lesser not possessing sufficient weight and strength to 

 prey upon men, will occasionally carry off women, herd-boys, 

 and children ; but as a general rule, its depredations are re- 

 stricted to the smaller wild and domestic animals, birds, and 

 vermin. 



During the year 1883-8-i, the inhabitants of the little 

 Civil Station of Maldah were kept in terror by the audacity 

 of a panther, which not only thinned their flocks and herds, 

 but attacked and often killed men, women, and children, in 

 the town itself, till at length it was shot by Mr. H. R., in the 

 outskirts, among trees and bushes. It proved to be a small 

 female, measuring, it is said, a trifle over six feet in length , 

 and of the grass species; but its exact length not being re- 

 corded, I feel disposed to believe that it was longer by several 

 inches than is above stated. 



I was requested one day about noon to go out two or 



