MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 39o 



My companions were the famous Mekranis of the Gir, the staunchest shikaries- 

 I have met, but sad rogues and poachers in ordinary times. 



The next longest panther was 7 feet 4 inches in length, a very heavy massive- 

 beast, also a Kathiawari; he was killed m May 1919 in the gardens to the North 

 of Junagad town. It was in the height of the recent famine, the heat was very 

 great, there was no water on the Girvad hills, the whole place was burnt, and 

 all the trees had shed their leaves, under such circumstances life on the bare hill' 

 sides must have been very distressing, so this panther left the jungles and took 

 up his abode under the dense shade of the mango trees in the State gardens. 

 The men guarding the mangoes on going their rounds disturbed him, and one man 

 was severely mauled ; the panther moved to another part of the garden, was 

 again disturbed, and mauled a second man ; this continued until no less than 

 six unfortunate men had been cruelly mangled. Curiously, all the victims 

 were bitten and clawed in exactly the same part — the right shoulder and 

 upper arm. Khvhber was telephoned up to me in the late afternoon and about 

 5 o'clock I started out. On my way to the gardens I met several of the victims 

 being carried to the hospital, and must confess I felt a certain amount of ditfi - 

 dence in meeting this ferocious brute. 



It had been a dreadfully hot day — 116° in the shade— with hot winds blowing 

 which may have accounted for the panther's bad temper. We found him 

 stretched at full length under a small Karunda bush beneath a large mango 

 tree, he lay with his jaws agape, panting heavily, evidently much distressed 

 with the abnormal heat. We crept up — under cover of a low aqueduct — to 

 within 20 yards of him, and one shot in the chest from my • 350 H. V. settled 

 him. He was a massive beast, quite the heaviest I have seen. 



The remaining males of the hundred odd mentioned above gave two or three 

 measuring 7 feet 2 inches, the usual length was 7 feet or slightly under. All 

 measurements were strictly honest, taken between stakes, and not along the 

 curves, (this latter generally adds 2 or 3 inches to the length) and before the 

 animal had stiffened. 



The Kathiawar panther differs considerably in colour from the Bengal ; the 

 skin of the latter is more black and white, with large open rosettes, glossy and 

 bright in appearance, eminently suitable to the heavy dark forests with bnght 

 chequers of sunhght shining through the trees. The Kathiawar skins are dull 

 and rusty, with spots more crowded, the lighter colourmg suits the open dust 

 coloured Gu- forests admirably. It is astonishing to see how perfectly the 

 panther's colouring blends with the back groimd, a moving panther is fairly 

 well seen but directly he stops he seems to vanish, and his outline is 1"^^^^^ 

 out with difficulty. It is this fact that makes the foUowmg up of wounclcd 

 panthers so exceedingly dangerous. I once followed up a small female, shortly 

 before dusk in scrub jungle, I actually trod on her tail without seeing her, but 

 fartunately for me she was stone dead, having made a dying rush of oU jaiUb 

 or so with a ball well placed behind her shoulder. I will give another instance or 

 the extraordinary invisibUity of panthers and incidentally of the damage tuey 

 can do when one would imadne they were " hors de combat:' It was in a ocat, 

 a small female trotted past me. I fired with a -300 H. V. shattermg both Her 

 forelegs above the elbow. She rushed into an isolated thicket of low shrubs ana 

 nothing would move her. Whilst we sat debating how best to hmsli i ei on 

 a vainglorious villager seized a sword and dashed '"^to tae t ii^kcj 

 after the wounded beast, shouting that we were all afraid and t^^t iie avoui 

 show us how woimded panthers should be finished off. The fool^^'iji^^^ er> 

 nearly stepped on the panther which sprang up on its hmd legs, bit the ma 

 in both shoulders and gave him a bad mauling generally ; we tl^^'^^^^ ^ ^ ^J^^" 

 to the winds, dashed m to the rescue and my sporting cook brained 

 panther with an axe. 



