THE BLACK PANTHER. 219 



rufous grey, the spots or blotches upon it being black and 

 irregular in form, like those of the clouded panther, and simi- 

 lar, too, as varying in size and shape on different parts of the 

 body, but far smaller. The tail was shorter than that of a 

 jackal, and rather heavily furred, but not bushy, and the ears 

 rather prominent. I never met with a living individual 

 with such a skin in any of my wanderings, though I have 

 been told by the Khassias that such an animal used to be 

 common on their native mountains, but that it had gradually 

 become rare. Why ? Certainly not from being hunted and 

 shot by European sportsmen, since I never heard of a single 

 one being killed. The skin has little beauty to recommend it, 

 and is of no value so far as I can judge. 



The black panther, without being as extremely rare as 

 the clouded pard (or " Rhimandaban " of Borneo and Java) 

 is not often met with in the Lower Provinces. As some proof 

 of its rarity, I may state that, having communicated on this 

 subject with fourteen or fifteen of the oldest and most expe- 

 rienced sportsmen now in this country, the result is that one 

 gentleman (Mr. E. L. of the B. C. S.) has shot one and seen a 

 second, both in Chittagong ; Mr. W. C., of the Bengal Police, 

 has seen but one, and that in Kundal, in Tipperah ; Mr. 

 H. R. R., who has killed between three and four hundred 

 panthers in Eastern and Northern Bengal, has himself never 

 shot a black panther, but was present when one was killed 

 by a companion at Pallap, in Dacca, when three others of the 

 grass species were shot at the same time and place ; also he 

 has seen that animal without being able to bag it once in 

 Dinagepoor, and once in Durrung, in Assam. The two oldest 

 sportsmen in Bengal, Messrs. J. R. and W. H. R., whose varied 

 experience is spread over more than forty years, tell me that 

 they have never met with this animal. Mr. W. H. C., of the 

 Bengal Police, who has shot constantly from Ganjam to Upper 

 Assam, and in Orissa, has never met with a single one in 

 his experience of twenty-six years, nor has Mr. F. W., of the 

 same Service, who was for many years in Chota Nagpoor, as 



