266 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA 



around, and had sons and nephews in close relations 

 with the tigers and other wild animals in all directions. 

 He was thoroughly acquainted with all the different 

 sorts of game and their habits, and really could, when 

 he chose, furnish first-rate sport to his clients. But he 

 was by nature a rogue of the first water, generally taking 

 his information all round the station for offers ; and taking 

 out the highest bidder to a hunt which almost invariably 

 ended, through some perverse accident, in the escape 

 without scathe of the object of pursuit, which he would 

 very likely bring in the next day himself to claim the 

 Grovernment reward. He had " stumbled on it," of 

 course, quite by accident, and in self-defence, etc., he 

 was compelled to shoot it ! 



His great quarry was the panther, of which he was 

 known to have killed an almost incredible number in the 

 course of his long life. He lived in a little village about 

 four miles out of the station, just under one of the steep 

 isolated granite hills that rise at intervals from the plain ; 

 and he once showed me a notched stick, on which fifty- 

 two cuts recorded the number of panthers he had killed 

 on this hill alone. The number of these animals in the dis- 

 tricts round about Jubbulpiir is very great. The low rocky 

 hills referred to, full of hollows and caverns, and overgrown 

 with dense scrubby cover, afford them favourite retreats ; 

 while the numbers of antelope and hog deer, goats, sheep, 

 pariah dogs, and pigs, supply them with abundant food. 

 A large male panther will kill not very heavy cattle; 

 but as a rule they confine themselves to the smaller animals 

 mentioned. They seldom reside very far from villages, 

 prowling round them at night in search of prey, and 

 retreating to their fastnesses before daybreak. Unlike 

 the tiger, they care little for the neighbourhood of water 

 even in the hot weather, drinking only at night, and 

 generally at a distance from their midday retreat. 



There has been much confusion among sportsmen and 

 writers as to the several species of Cat called " Panther," 

 " Leopard," and " Hunting Leopard." Jerdon, in his 

 Mammals of India, has at last correctly distinguished 

 them under the above names, recognising two> varieties 



