THE PANTHER. 



31 



and boulders afford secure retreats, it is frequently impossible to drive Panthers out ; and 

 unless one is actually marked down, beating for them is often in vain. 



Panthers of all varieties are extremely cunning and wary in their movements. They 

 have an extraordinary faculty of concealing themselves in the most scanty cover ; their 

 beautiful spotted skins harmonizing with almost any ground they may be lying on. They 

 hide in thick cover during the day and prowl about in search of their game at night. Occa- 

 sionally one may be seen sunning himself in the early morning on some exposed rock ; but a 

 sportsman may wander for months, find tracks of Panthers every day, but never meet with 

 the beast himself ; and it is only by the merest chance that a shot may be obtained. 



The greater number that are killed by natives are shot over the carcases of animals that 

 they have destroyed ; but few Englishmen have the patience to wait long enough for them to 

 ensure success. Unless much frightened, a Panther will almost invariably return to its 

 ' kill ; ' but sometimes not for two or three days, when the carcase of its victim has become 

 perfectly putrid. 



When beating for Tigers, Panthers are occasionally killed ; but very often they contrive 

 to sneak away in cover where a Tiger would have no chance of escape. 



I have often sat up for Panthers, but have not been very successful, on the whole ; and I 

 should recommend the sportsman, who tries the plan, to be prepared for repeated disappoint- 

 ments. It frequently occurs that the Panther does not come till after dark, and under these 

 circumstances it is impossible to shoot with any accuracy, even at a distance of ten or twelve 

 yards. It is therefore a good plan, when there is no moonlight, to place a lantern so as to 

 throw its light upon the carcase ; contrary to the popular notion that no wild animal will 

 come near a light, the Panther does not take the least notice of it, and I have killed one 

 within a couple of yards of a lantern. On two occasions, when I have neglected to take a 

 lantern, I have had the mortification of hitting the goat which I had tied up as a bait, when 

 actually in the Panther's jaws ! 



I have not killed very many Panthers, but I give an account of some that I have shot, 

 and have also two or three instances of their ferocity which came under my immediate 

 notice, to relate. 



In 1863, when hunting for Tigers to the south of the Sewalik hills, we surrounded a 

 small Panther. A shell from my rifle was the first that struck him, but as he did not at once 

 die, he was fired at by every one and his skin quite spoiled. A few days afterwards as I was 

 going up one of the 'rdos' in the Sewaliks, I came upon an enormous Panther crouching 

 by some water. He was a long way off, and as I approached he sneaked off and I missed a 

 difficult shot. 



In 1865, while halting during a shower of rain under the shelter of a Brinjara's hut in 

 Kansrao, I saw the head of some beast appearing above the long grass at the top of a cliff 

 opposite to us. We could not make out what it was for a long time, but at length the 

 animal got up and showed that it was a Panther. We went in pursuit, but the brute con- 

 cealed itself, and we could not find it again. 



On September 5th, 1869, on our return march from Ladak to Mussourie, my wife and I 



