76 EINAR LONNBEEG, MAMMALS COLLECTED BY THE SWEDISH ZOOLOGICAL EXPEDITION ETC. 



It was said that the » Bush-Lion » which lived on the mainland opposite Mom- 

 basa, in the thick bush there, was mane-less. It is thus possible that the Somali 

 Lion extends its distribution as far southwards in the districts covered with thick 

 bush. 



Felis pardus Lin. 



Unfortunately there was very little opportunity during the whole expedition to 

 gain any direct knowledge about the Leopards of British East Africa, although these 

 animals are by no means uncommon. No specimen was shot. Only once I saw with 

 my own eyes a Leopard, and then I had no weapon. This happened in the thorn- 

 bush country near the water place Njoro north of Guaso Nyiri ^V^ 1911. Mr Cun- 

 NiNQHAMB and I were returning to the camp in the afternoon, and we were walking 

 along a game path. Cunningham e went a few steps in front of me and had already 

 passed the thornbush from which the Leopard jumped out, hardly two metres from 

 the path on which we were going. My gunbearer had unfortunately stopped behind 

 for a moment, and the animal thus disappeared with long leaps unmolested as Cun- 

 NiNGHAME unfortunately missed with snap shot. I had only time to state that it 

 was a large specimen with a rich rufous colouring, although one could have expected 

 to find a pale form in this arid country. 



The characteristic hoarse gnarling sound with intervals (somewhat similar to 

 that produced »by sawing a piece of thin wood with a coarse toothed saw» as Pocock 

 says)^ was heard during the nights now and then at Njoro and on the acacia steppe 

 at Lekiundu river. 



In the forests of Kenia as well the Leopards are common. I heard from an 

 Englishman who had a grant to collect rubber on the eastern slopes of Kenia, that 

 the Leopards within short time had snatched away three dogs from him. In other 

 places as well I heard similar accounts proving how fond the Leopards are of dog- 

 meat. 



It is generally believed that there are two kinds of Leopards in British East 

 Africa a large and a small race. It is also spoken about a small-spotted and a large- 

 spotted race. Although I have not got material to express a definite opinion I think 

 it must be observed that the difference in size partly can be explained by the great 

 difference between the sexes, the males being much larger than the females. The 

 condylobasal length of and old male Leopard from Gheleb, Eritrea (received from 

 Hev. K. G. Roden) is, for instance, 192 mm. while the same measurement in females 

 from the same locality (also received from the same gentleman) is from 167 to 175 mm. 

 Partly the difference in size also may be due to the greater or less abundance of food. 

 The Provincial Commissioner Dr. Hindb has drawn my attention to the fact that 

 according to his experience the Leopards in the forests and at the edge of the forests 

 were larger than those of the open plains, and he regarded this to be due to the grea- 

 ter quantity of food which was available to the former than to the latter. 



1 Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1907 p. 677. 



