116 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVII. 



no doubt that more than once his superstitious dread of this unknown, 

 object saved my life ; indeed on one occasion I passed within inches of 

 where he was lying and knew nothing of it until 1 had passed some paces 

 when with a " woof " he jumped up and bolted. I had had to follow him up 

 into some long grass by means of one of the tunnels in it made by 

 deer and other game and up which he had dragged the body of a man he 

 had killed. When I reached the remains of the body I found the tiger had 

 retraced his steps and then leaped on one side, probably on hearing my 

 approach. I suppose my whole attention was so concentrated on the ex- 

 pected tiger in front of me that I was oblivious to anything on either side 

 of me, but it was a lesson never to be forgotten and in the many times 

 afterwards in which I had to follow him up I always remembered to keep a 

 very sharp look out on both sides of me as well as in front. 



I saw an excellent example once of the want of scent possessed in a tiger, 

 who was drinking at a stream, within ten paces of a sambhur with the 

 wind blowing in titful gusts from the deer to the cat. We were poling 

 down the Diyung River in a dugout, a dense mist driving up the stream 

 into our faces and completely obscuring both banks except at odd moments 

 when the wreaths blew on one side. I was sitting on the edge of the 

 boat, my legs dangling in the water and a shot gun on my knees waiting 

 for the mist to rise and give me a chance of shooting my grub for the 

 day, when the mist suddenly curled away from the bank and gave me 

 a glimpse of a grand tiger, his head between his paws as he lay on the 

 edge of the bank lapping his morning drink. Next second the rapid 

 stream hadi svvun^ us round a bend of the river and there stood a Sambhur 

 Stag, head n air, evidently troubled by some faint whiff of his striped 

 foe so close to him. The rifle I had snatched up too late for the tiger was 

 in time for the deer who dropped where he stood with a shot through 

 the neck. When we brought the boat to the bank and investigated 

 matters more closely, we found that tiger and deer had been well within 

 ten yards of one another although separated by a very dense strip of reeds 

 and grasses. The tiger certainly appeared to have had no hint of the 

 presence of the deer though the wind was in his favour, whilst the deer, 

 almost equally certainly had been disturbed by the presence of the tiger, 

 though the wind was against him. 



Tame, or semi-tame, leopards which I have had in captivity have never 

 shewn any great powers of scent, although some of them were allowed 

 considerable liberty. Whilst my dogs would come up to me at a run 

 when tracking me by scent, the leopards would nose about, snuffle 

 and inhale and often fail altogether to find me out. Bears, which 

 I have had at the same time as leopards, were much keener nosed and 

 though clumsy in their movements would soon hunt me out. On the 

 other hand the leopard was the quickest at hearing of all my animals, 

 even sambhur and barking deer were not half so quick. 



After the leopard had had a good meal it was often possible to allow j 

 him off his leash with the other animals, who curiously enough never | 

 showed the instinctive fear of him one would have expected, and often j 

 T have been able to compare their powers of hearing and invariably the 1 

 leopard was the first to hear any sound with the occasional exception of | 

 a little prick-eared Tibetan dog. 



The first sound, which to my human ears, used to convey the news that 

 any one was approaching my compound was the creaking of a bamboo 

 gate which let them into it, but long before this the animals knew all :' 

 about it. First the leopard would prick up his ears, raise his head, and 

 stare, with that curious far away look in his pale eyes, in the direction 

 of the new-arrival, next the deer would erect their heads, stamp with their 





