389 



MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 



No. I.— BOLDNESS OF PANTHERS. 



In February 1912 at Jamalijur in South Bihar, I was informed that near 

 the village of Abhyajxir an exceptional!}'' large male panther was killing- 

 cattle every few nights on the outskirts of the village, and had killed a 

 valuable bullock the previous night. I had recently had an electric lamp 

 given me and was anxious to try it, so went out to the spot. I found the 

 kill near a small mango tree within 100 yards of the village and .300 yards 

 from the foot of a range of stony hills covered with thorny scrub. 



I had a pole driven into the ground and hung the lamp directly over the 

 kill, and erected a machan in the mango tree about 15 feet above the 

 ground ; the lamp switch was a cumbersome arrangement which required 

 two hands to work, so I decided to take my shikari into the machan and 

 get him to turn on the light when I gave the signal ; unfortunately this 

 shikari was not staunch and had lost his nerve. On two occasions I had 

 lent him to other sahibs to assist them in following up wounded panthers, 

 and on both occasions he had been mauled. I warned the villagers against 

 making any noise or movement after dusk, and climbed into the machan ; 

 just as the sun Avas going down a dog came and started feeding on the 

 kill but just after dusk he bolted back to the village barking and seemingly 

 terrified, sol knew the panther was not far oft'; in ten minutes or so I 

 could just dimly discern a long low shadow creeping up to the kill, and 

 when all was comfortable I gave the sign to turn on the light but to no 

 eft'ect ; the shikari was terrified and for some time helpless. I turned to 

 look at him and he switched on, the panther immediately bounded 20 

 yards outside the circle of light, and stood looking at the lamp ; I had a 

 shot and missed and then put out the light ; in half an hour the panther 

 returned, the light was again bungled, 1 had another fleeting shot and 

 missed again. 



At nine o'clock a hytena came along uttering the most unearthly yells 

 and screams, and circled the scene of events several times, the panther 

 was sitting directly under my machan growling and muttering, and made 

 several rushes in the direction of the hycena when he aproached the kill, 

 drove him oft', and then returned to his position under my tree ; this con- 

 tinued for about two hours when the hyaena gave it up as a bad job and 

 went off'; the panther then came on the kill and was again missed; this and 

 the succeeding shots were taken in the dark as the shikari by this time 

 was absolutely incapable of holding the switch at all ; after this a small 

 panther (ap^Darently the female) appeared on the scene, but the male would 

 not allow her to feed ; several times she apioroached the kill and each time 

 the male darted out and drove her oft' ; once she took refuge in the lower 

 branches of my tree where she sat whilst they snarled at one another, 

 this reduced my poor shikari to a jelly. Occasionally, at half hour inter- 

 vals the panther would go to the kill and start feeding ; I took the switch 

 into my own hands and turned on the light, but each time directly the 

 light appeared the panther bounded oft' without a moment's hesitation and 

 stood just outside the ilknninated circle. In all I had six shots, the last 

 at about half jDast two in the morning, after this the panther went away 

 altogether. The next night he did not return, although I had the kill care- 

 fully preserved on the same spot. 



The night was intensely dark and I was using a high velocity rifle with 

 a nineteen inch barrel and vei-y straight in the stock, and I found that all 

 my shots had gone high. This panther would not come out of the jungle 

 on moonlight nights, but in the dark of the moon was very destructive, 



