88 MARVELS OF THE ANIMAL WORLD 



Although one would naturally expect to find that 

 young animals would be more tractable and easier 

 to train than adults, yet, curiously enough, the 

 natives of India only catch fuUy-grown hunting- 

 leopards for sporting purposes, and state that they 

 prove far more satisfactory and reliable than if 

 they had been procured as cubs. It is difficult to 

 assign any definite reason for this preference, but 

 it has been suggested that the babies learn the 

 initial stages of the art of hunting much better 

 from their parents than from human instructors. 

 The method employed in the capture of the animals 

 is for the natives to set snares, in the form of nooses 

 made from the hide or sinews of antelopes, around 

 the trees which the creatures are in the habit of 

 sharpening their claws upon. When one of the 

 beasts is thereby secured it is taken off to a neigh- 

 bouring village and then undergoes a taming process 

 which, although of a very drastic and cruel nature, 

 is nevertheless very efficient, for the unfortunate 

 captive is starved and also prevented from obtaining 

 any sleep until it becomes so exhausted as to take 

 little interest in fife. As soon as it has arrived at 

 this state of dejection, its owner then brings it 

 food and drink, and caresses and fondles it in an 

 endeavour to win its confidence and affection, with 

 the result that the creature soon shows its apprecia- 

 tion of the changed state of affairs, and quickly 

 establishes a lasting friendship with its late enemy. 

 Its education as a hunter of game then commences, 

 but such work is merely a matter of controlling 

 and directing its natural instincts to slay, and, 



