48 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 
pale, the spots large, and the fur very long. At the March fur-sales of the present year, held at 
the stores of Sir Charles Lampson, there were Siberian leopard-skins as large as those of a small 
tiger. 
Leopards are essentially tree-living and nocturnal animals. Sleeping in trees or caves by 
day, they are seldom disturbed. They do an incredible amount of mischief among cattle, calves, 
sheep, and dogs, being especially fond of killing and eating the latter. They seize their prey by 
the throat, and cling with their claws until they succeed in breaking the spine or in strangling 
the victim. The largest leopards are popularly called PanrHErs. In India they sometimes 
become man-eaters, and are always very dangerous. They have a habit of feeding on putrid 
flesh ; this makes wounds inflicted by their teeth or claws liable to blood-poisoning. Nothing in 
the way of prey comes amiss to them, from a cow in the pasture to a fowl up at roost. “In 
every country,” says Sir Samuel Baker, “ the natives are unanimous in saying that the leopard is 
more dangerous than the lion or tiger. 
Wherever I have been in Africa, the 
natives have declared that they had no 
fear of a lion, provided they were not 
hunting, for it would not attack unpro- 
voked, but that a leopard was never to 
be trusted. JI remember when a native 
boy, accompanied by his grown-up 
brother, was busily employed with 
others in firing the reeds on the op- 
posite bank of a small stream. Being 
Photo by F. W. McLellan] ak [Highbury 
SNOW-LEOPARD, OR OUNCE 
This is a striking portrait of a very beautiful animal. Note the long bushy tail, thick ccat, and iarge eyes 
thirsty and hot, the boy stooped down to drink, when he was immediately seized by a leopard. 
His brother, with admirable aim, hurled his spear at the leopard while the boy was in his jaws. 
The point separated the vertebre of the neck, and the- leopard fell stone-dead. The boy was 
carried to my hut, but there was no chance of recovery. The fangs had torn open the chest 
and injured the lungs. These were exposed to view through the cavity of the ribs. He died 
the same night.” 
In the great mountain-ranges of Central Asia the beautiful Snow-LEoparp is found. It is a 
large creature, with thick, woolly coat, and a long tail like a fur boa. The colour is white, 
clouded with beautiful gray, like that of an Angora cat. The edges of the cloudings and spots 
are marked with black or darker gray. The eyes are very large, bluish gray or smoke-coloured. 
It lives on the wild sheep, ibex, and other mountain animals. In captivity it is far the tamest 
and gentlest of the large carnivora, not excepting the puma. Unlike the latter, it is a sleepy, 
quiet animal, like a domestic cat. The specimen shown here belonged to a lady in India, who 
kept it for some time as a pet. It was then brought to the Zoological Gardens, where it was 
more amiable and friendly than most cats. The writer has entered its cage with the keeper, 
stroked it, and patted its head, without in the least ruffling its good-temper. The heat of the 
lion-house did not suit it, and it died of consumption. 
