THE LEOPARD OR PANTHER. 63 



powerful, and somewhat more grating, being a series of measured 

 grunts or cougMng growls repeated four or five times in quick 

 succession, but it is not often heard, panthers being rather silent 

 animals. 



The cubs when born are generally three in a litter and are blind, 

 continuing so for twenty or twenty-five days. Their size is about 

 the same as a kitten a month old, and they are of a pale-brownish 

 colour covered with irregular black spots, for they only attain the 

 tawny colour of the adult after the first year. The cubs are said 

 to be less playful than the young tigers, and to acquire ferocity 

 almost simultaneously with eyesight, and will spit and snarl even 

 at the keepers who feed them. They appear to be the most un- 

 tameable of the cat tribe, for even when taken in hand at a very 

 young age they exhibit uncertain tempers, which make them 

 dangerous. 



Though they do not as a rule attack men, yet their liking 

 for children's flesh is unmistakable, and some cruel tales attain 

 publicity now and again about poor Indian women leaving their 

 children unprotected for a few minutes near some stream or 

 well-side, and returning to find a leopard growling over the 

 fragments of the babes. 



An animal confined in a menagerie in India exhibited this taste 

 constantly. One writer refers to it as follows : " This leopard 

 paid no particular attention to adults who approached his cage, 

 but became immediately excited when children drew near. He 

 would then jump up and down, lie on his side or back, wag his 

 tail, and by a thousand tricks apparently endeavour to decoy the 

 child, lookino" all the time as innocent as a lamb. The manoeuvres 

 were often watched by us with curiosity, not unmixed with horror, 

 for the purpose for which the subtle creature exerted all these 

 blandishments was but too evident." 



" One leopard, described as being but a small beast of its kind," 

 writes Major-General Burton, " infested a tract of country about 

 forty miles south of the city of Nagpore for more than two years, 

 and was known to have destroyed over a hundred women and 

 children. The villages in general, are situated close to water- 

 courses, which are fringed with bushes and high grass; very 



