THE SPORTSMAN IN SOUTH AFRICA. 85 



only venture abroad during the night. In contradistinction to 

 their congeners the Cheetahs, they frequent a hilly and broken 

 country, but this is not always so, as there are a good many 

 along the banks of the Chobe and Botletle, near which rivers 

 there are no hills whatever. Although fatalities in connection 

 with the Leopard do not often occur in South Africa, a good many 

 white hunters, and all natives as a rule, consider them more 

 dangerous to tackle than the Lion, as, when wounded, they will 

 fight to the last, and when hungry are extremely audacious. Unlike 

 that animal, their attack is always conducted with the utmost stealth, 

 and without any preliminary growling; and any dog daring enough 

 to venture beyond the wagon fires when any of them are about, is 

 almost certain to come to a bad end. Except when hunting in 

 couples, it is unusual for them to attack the very large antelopes, 

 but they are extremely destructive to the smaller varieties and the 

 young of all, including the Giraffe, and when pressed by extreme 

 hunger, man himself is not free from assault. It invariably seizes its 

 prey by the throat, and when hunted with dogs, takes refuge in 

 trees, from which position it may be shot without much difficulty or 

 danger, providing the hunter keeps at a distance sufficient to be out 

 of range of the animal's spring. Expanding bullets should always 

 be used in such encounters, but when at very close quarters, nothino- 

 proves more efficacious than a charge of buckshot fired from a shot 

 gun. The flesh of the Leopard and Cheetah, equally with that of 

 all the Jackal tribe, is highly esteemed by the natives, and a gentle- 

 man of our acquaintance — not recognising the difference between 

 the Bechuana terms ''Nkwai (Leopard) and ^Nku (sheep) — was induced 

 to try it, and declares it not to be at all bad, somewhat resembling 

 veal in flavour. 



Two varieties of the above species have been described by Dr. A. 

 Giinther, F.R.S., in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society dated 

 respectively May, 1885, and April, 1886. 



Felis leopardus^ var. mdanot. — "Killed near Grahamstown. 

 Ground colour tawny, with a rich orange gloss about the shoulders. 

 Of the rosettes only a few indications are preserved, viz., on the 

 haunches, where two are visible on the right side, while they form 

 an irregular confluent pattern on the left. The remains of rosettes 

 are also visible on each shoulder." 



Felis leopardus, var. melanotica. — " Killed in the district of 

 Albany. There are no rosettes at all on the larger portion of 



