66 WILD BEASTS OF THE WORLD 



rate the West Asiatic race, have paler colouring and thicker fur than 

 the tropical type, thus somewhat approaching the Ounce; and African 

 Leopards have smaller and closer spots than Asiatic ones, many more 

 of the spots being solid instead of rosette-like. Black Leopards are very 

 rare in Africa, and when they occur seem to owe their hue to the 

 confluence of the spots rather than the darkening of the ground- 

 colour. 



The wide distribution of the Leopard can easily be explained by 

 his great adaptability; for he can exist and pick up a living where a 

 Lion or Tiger would starve, and can and does live alongside these 

 beasts. He frequents either rocks or forest, and is a fine climber, like 

 an ordinary Cat ; his variegated coat is well adapted for concealment 

 in the woods, and at a distance, when seen in the open, is not more 

 conspicuous than the Lion's is, as it then appears uniform ; he is in- 

 different to water, and can do without it for days. As to food, no 

 creature, from small birds to Bullocks, is safe from him ; he is a deadly 

 enemy of the monkey tribe, and has a peculiar fancy for the flesh of 

 Dogs, which he will venture to steal even from a verandah, for he is a 

 much bolder animal than the Tiger. This attribute makes him far 

 more terrible when he takes to killing human beings, which occasion- 

 ally happens ; indeed, almost the worst man-eater on record was the 

 celebrated Leopard of Seeonee in India, which killed a couple of hundred 

 people before it was brought to book itself. 



It may be mentioned here that the name " Panther," which is of 

 genuine classical Greek derivation, means "the hunter of everything," 

 and shows that the ancients were well acquainted with this audacious 

 plunderer. Being much commoner than the Tiger, and, owing to his 

 cunning and versatility, remarkably difficult to circumvent by sports- 

 men, the Leopard, in India at all events, is regarded more as vermin 

 than as a game animal. He is generally solitary in habits, and has 

 a most peculiar call, very like the sound produced by cutting wood 

 with a coarse saw. 



In eating his prey, it is observed that a Leopard begins, unlike the 

 Lion and Tiger, at the fore instead of the hind quarter, and by this 



