THE LEOPARDS. 21 



THE LEOPARDS, 



IN THE ROYAL MENAGERY, TOWER OF LONDON. 



It is in the recesses of the African deserts, from the Mediterranean to the Cape, and in the eastern 

 districts of Asia, that the Leopard, this formidable and ferocious animal, disputes with the lion the 

 sovereignty of its domain, and renders itself an object of continual terror and alarm to the human race. 

 The timid Hindoo, on his devotional pilgrimages, dreads in every jungle to espy the crouching animal, 

 fearing that he may soon fall an easy victim to its fatal spring ; whilst in the burning deserts of 

 Africa, it pursues its sanguinary habits far from the haunts of men, and gorges itself with the blood 

 of every defenceless creature that it meets with in its track. In those vast, unpeopled regions, the 

 Leopard may vary in some degree in the brighter or fainter shades of its colouring, as well as in its 

 powers and magnitude, but in its essential characteristics it universally presents the same ferocious 

 disposition and sanguinary pursuits. 



The panther and the Leopard have frequently been confounded, but they may be generally distin- 

 guished by the form of the spots ; those of the panther having usually a central spot in each circle, 

 while in the Leopard it is seldom to be observed. The distinction is, however, not without exception, 

 and the animals are better distinguished by their general shade of colours and their size ; the panther 

 being of a darker colour, and larger than the Leopard : nevertheless, this distinction is by no means 

 strongly marked, and they can only be considered as varieties of the same species. In manners and 

 dispositions the Leopard nearly resembles the tiger, but the Leopard is generally considered as less 

 fierce than the panther. 



The colour of the Leopard is a yellowish fawn on the upper part of the body, becoming gradually 

 paler on the sides, whilst the under part of the body is a pure white. The sides and back of the 

 animal exhibit numerous distinct roses, formed by the near approach of three or four elongated small 

 black spots, surrounding a central area about an inch or an inch and a half in breadth, partaking 

 rather of a deeper colour than the ground on which it is placed. The head, the neck, the top of the 

 back, and the lower surface of the body, are covered in an irregular manner with black spots, some 

 larger, some smaller, and either oval or circular. 



In speaking of this formidable animal, Mr. Bennett very justly observes, that the Leopard, equally 

 savage and dastardly, closely imitates the manners of the lion and the tiger in a somewhat reduced 

 but still formidable scale. Antelopes, monkeys, and the smaller quadrupeds, constitute his usual 

 prey, upon which he darts forth from his secret stand, and which he pertinaciously pursues even upon 

 the trees where they may have taken refuge, climbing after them with surprising agility. The 

 Leopard generally endeavours, if possible, to avoid man ; but, when hard pressed by hunger, he 

 fears not to make head against the hunter, and it frequently requires the exertion of no common 

 share of skill and intrepidity in the latter to save himself from the deadly fangs of the infuriated object 

 of his pursuit. Occasionally, indeed, the cravings of hunger stimulate the treacherous animal to 

 attack the unwary wood-cutter, or the lone traveller, whose path has led to his secret haunts ; ut in 

 this case he rarely, if ever, shews himself openly in the face of day, but watches, with insidious glare, 

 for the fatal opportunity of springing upon his wretched victim from behind, and of annihilating his 

 power of resistance before it could possibly be exerted in his defence. 



The animals from which our drawing is taken are natives of Asia ; and the female, which is the 



