THE POWER OF SCENT IN WILD ANIMALS. 117 



forefeet and also turn in the same direction and lastly the dogs would show 

 that they too had heard. The bears and monkeys never seemed to take 

 any notice unless the person was approaching about meal time, but even 

 then they were the last to pay any attention. 



Unlike the true cats, tbe civet cats have an extraordinary powerful sense 

 of smell. 1 once had a beautiful grey beast brought to me by some Nagas 

 late in the evening as it was getting dusk. They asserted that it was ab- 

 solutely tame so I took it out of the basket and it at once licked my hands 

 and climbed over me uttering a sound like a contented little purr. I kept it 

 with me for about an hour and then wanting to go to bed decided to lock 

 him up in an old aviary I had once used for some eagles. Leaving it, as I 

 thought, safely shut up, 1 turned in, but hardly was I in bed before I heard a 

 scratching at the thatch roof and presently down dropped the civet, pushed 

 itself cheerfully through my mosquito net and evinced the greatest delight 

 at having once more found me. Feeling that it was hardly a desirable bed 

 companion, 1 again grabbed it by the neck and carried it out to the cage. 

 Shut up once more it was out, however, and back in my bed almost as soon 

 as I was. Determined to be allowed to sleep in peace I again carried him 

 right away out of the garden to a huge cotton tree about '200 yards away 

 and saw him run safely up into the top branches far overhead, but, before I 

 got back to my garden, I turned to have a look and there was my recently 

 acquired pet with its nose to the ground simply racing over it after me. 



This cat would often nose out birds' nests in trees or bushes within a few 

 feet of the ground and then climb up and devour any eggs or young con- 

 tained in them. When he arrived at a bush with a nest in it he would halt 

 for a second or two with his little nose lifted up and quivering about in 

 every direction until it was in a bee-line with the nest and then up he 

 climbed. Fortunately he was the most amenable animal to deal with I have 

 ever had and soon learnt that no nests within my garden fence must be 

 touched. He was immense pals with all the dogs and could track them up 

 by scent at a gallop, proceeding in ungainly leaps after the manner of his 

 kind. His sight for distant objects was very poor though for anything near 

 it was exceptionally quick. 



Before leaving the subject of feline senses it may be of interest to relate 

 a story of a leopard child which has not yet ever been published though it 

 was pretty well known at the time. 



In the North Cachar Hills, where the boy was found, Government taxation 

 used to consist in part of labour, so much being supplied by every village 

 for the upkeep of roads, rest-houses, etc. Sometimes men would petition 

 for exemption from this labour on various grounds, and one day when ques- 

 tioning a man as to why he wanted exemption from such labour he told me 

 that he had a little " wild " son to look after and as his wife had recently 

 died he could not leave the village to work or the boy would run back to 

 the jungle, 



I accordingly went outside the court to see the " wild child "and satis- 

 fy myself as to the truth of the story. There sure enough outside was a 

 small boy about seven years old, or less, squatted on the ground like a small 

 animal ; directly I came near him he put his head in the air and snufled 

 about, finishing by bolting on all fours to his father between whose legs he 

 backed like a small wild beast retreating into a burrow. Looking closer at 

 the child I saw that he was nearly or entirely blind from some form of 

 cataract and his little body was covered with the white scars of innumerable 

 healed tiny cuts and scratches. Struck with his appearance I asked the 

 father to tell me all about the boy and he then narrated the following 

 wonderful story which I fully believe to be true, but which my readers must 

 accept or not as they think fit. 



