66 WILD ANIMALS. 



whicli cannot encrease into great rivers), whereat tlie pantTaers and 

 pardals use to drink early in the morning, before it be light ; after 

 they have been at their prey in the night-time, the hunters come 

 and pour twenty or thirty pitchers of old sweet wine into the said 

 fountain ; then a little way from it they lie down and cover them- 

 selves with clothes, or with straw, for there is no shelter either of 

 tree or bushe in that countrey. 



" ' In the morning, the panthers ardently tbirsting, and being 

 almost dead for want of a drink, come unto the same fountain, 

 and tasting of the wine, drink thereof of great abundance, which 

 presently falleth to work upon their brains, for they begin first of 

 all to leap and- sport themselves, until they be well wearyed, and 

 then they lie down and sleep most soundly, at which time the 

 hunters that lye in wait for them, come and take them without 

 all fear or perill.' " 



The fascination that certain odours have for the fehdee has 

 been alluded to before; but the leopards display a remarkable 

 instance of this, for they are said to exhibit an extraordinary pre- 

 dilection for the odour that attends the terrible disease of small- 

 pox, and on the authority of Sir Emerson Tennent, the medical 

 attendants at the smallpox hospitals have to take special pre- 

 cautions to protect the patients from these members of the spotted 

 cat family, for they invariably haunt the precincts of these places 

 if they happen to be anywhere within a district inhabited by the 

 creatures. 



In the Zoological Gardens very fair specimens of the leopards 

 can generally be seen. Although they -occasionally breed there, 

 the cubs are rarely if ever reared, for the mother almost in- 

 variably kills and eats them when very young, a similar trait being 

 frequently exhibited by the domestic cat. The same difficulty 

 from the same cause occurs with the tiger's young. It is difficult 

 to account for this unnatural proceeding, and to assign a remedy. 

 The animals appear to be jealous of their cubs being even seen, and 

 try in every way to keep them out of sight, and they dislike at 

 such times being disturbed themselves in any way. Again, climate 

 may have something to do with it ; for animals which come from 

 tropical countries experience considerable discomfort from the 



