i6o RECREATIONS OF A NATURALIST 



of Kashmir, Thibet, and the Altai Mountains — is 

 one of the most beautiful of the cat tribe, and one 

 of the most difficult to procure. The well-nigh in- 

 accessible nature of its haunts, where it preys 

 chiefly on the wild sheep, protect it from the rifle of 

 eastern sportsmen, with whom it is always a much- 

 coveted prize ; for it has a beautiful fur, soft and 

 thick, to protect it from the cold climate in which it 

 lives, while its pale colour, almost white, with 

 duller spots than those of the Leopard, favours its 

 concealment when stalking its prey or being itself 

 stalked by man. 



Captain Baldwin, in the work already referred to, 

 has a most interesting chapter on this animal, in 

 which he narrates the efforts he made, when in 

 Thibet, to bring up a Snow Leopard cub which had 

 been caught alive, and which he was anxious to rear 

 for transport to our Zoological Gardens. It fell a 

 victim, he believed, to poison at the hands of a 

 native servant, who found it gave too much trouble 

 to look after. He also relates very graphically 

 how a fine old Snow Leopard, believed to be the 

 mother of the cub in question, was killed by one of 

 a party of Thibetans in a curious and unexpected 

 way. It was seen at a little distance, basking on a 

 ledge of rock at the mouth of its den, and appar- 

 ently asleep, when the native, looking over upon 

 it from above, dropped a large stone with such pre- 

 cision that it struck the sleeping animal in the 

 middle of the back and broke its spine. Captain 

 Baldwin, who only heard of the occurrence some 

 days afterwards, purchased the skin, which un- 

 fortunately had been very unskilfully preserved. 



