The Leopard 570 



by riding him down and spearing him, as all cats become easily blown when 

 chased on horseback in the open. A few Somali horsemen should accompany 

 the sportsman to back him up with their spears should he get into trouble. 

 When a lion or leopard is caught on this ground by the natives, they chase 

 him to the shelter of one of these isolated bushes, and then surround him 

 and shoot him with the Midean arrows. ., „ „ _ 



H. (jr. C SWAYNE. 



In West Africa 



In West Africa this animal is sometimes called the panther. The 

 average measurement of the head and body is about 3 feet 10 inches long ; 

 the tail only slightly shorter. An adult skull measures c^; inches in length, 

 and 5f inches in width. 1 



The leopard is very variable both in size and colour, and several sub- 

 species have from time to time been based upon such characteristics. 



It is usually of a yellowish -fawn colour, with darker spots grouped 

 into rosettes over the whole of the body, except underneath, where the 

 tint is whitish. The cheeks are without long hair and the tail is ringed. 



There is a form known as the black leopard, which is nothing else 

 than an example of melanism ; the pelage is a rich brown-black and the 

 spots are very evident in certain lights. 2 



Jentink says that he never met with it in the open, but often 

 saw very large skins. It is found over the whole districts of Liberia 

 where he collected, though nowhere plentiful. At night-time the beast 

 boldly breaks into goat-pens, even in villages and inhabited places, and 



' A West African leopard, shot recently by Captain A. W. Baker, of the 2nd West African Frontier 

 Force, at Jcbba, on the Niger, measured in extreme length, from nose to tip of tail, 6 feet 2 inches, and 

 from foot to top of shoulder, 2 feet |J inch. These measurements have been kindly forwarded by 

 Captain Baker.— Ed. 



- In the Grahamstown Museum, Cape Colony, there is a fine example of the black leopard. 

 Melanism in these animals is. however, not so common in Africa as in the East.— Ed. 



