84 A Sportswoman in India 



chiefly of ilex, tree-rhododendrons, and deodars ; they 

 must once have been full of panthers and bears, but 

 it is difficult to get them now, though dogs were 

 frequently carried off by panthers, close to Dalhousie, 

 at dusk. 



We had goats tied up at various places, and at 

 last one day received khubr (tidings) of one having 

 been killed at a little place close to Dalhousie Jun- 

 dragat. This was great news ; lots were drawn as 

 to who should sit up and wait for the chita, and S. 

 was the lucky man. The same animal is called most 

 indiscriminately panther, leopard, or child ; but the 

 hunting leopard or child, as distinguished from the 

 panther, has a foot more like a dog, which fits it for 

 running down its prey at immense speed ; its claws 

 also are only semi-retractile. 



However, all three of the large spotted cats stalk 

 their prey and kill it by suddenly springing on it 

 from some hiding-place. The largest are eight feet 

 long or more, and are sometimes nearly as powerfully 

 made as a small tiger, preying upon full-grown cattle, 

 horses, and even buffaloes. These large panthers 

 generally carry a light-coloured coat, with rose-shaped 

 spots, rather sparsely distributed ; the groflnd-colour 

 of the skin forming a centre to each spot. The 

 smallest panthers, or leopards, as they would be called, 

 are not more than five or six feet in length, their 

 skins are usually of a much darker hue, with the spots 

 smaller and clustered more closely together. Fierce, 

 destructive brutes, they are sly and cunning to the 



