IN CAPTIVITY IN LOWER BENGAL. 53 



made as to the suitableness of the travelling cage, and if it turns out to 

 be unsatisfactory, a proper one should be sent for the purpose. 



Breeding.— Leopards have bred in the garden ; the principal 

 hindrance, however, to their breeding more freely than hitherto is the 

 want of room to keep them in pairs. Cubs have been known to be killed 

 and eaten by other Jeopards living in the same den. They have, 

 however, been successfully reared by carefully separating them with 

 the mother at, or soon after, birth. 



Treatment in sickness. 



They are subject to all the diseases from which lions and tigers 

 suffer in captivity, and are amenable to the same treatment. As a 

 number of them live together in the same den, and as they are rather 

 quarrelsome animals, wounds and injuries are often met with among 

 them. 



Observations on the habits of Leopards. 



The agility of the leopard is remarkable, and in general it is 

 a more active animal than either a tiger or a lion ; at the same time it 

 is bolder and decidedly more pugnacious, especially the black variety. 

 If taken young and fed upon boiled meat and milk it remains very 

 tame up to a certain age, but its temper can never be absolutely 

 trusted. Leopards are fond of climbing trees and basking on the 

 branches in the sun. Sometimes, though rarely, a leopard has been 

 observed to make immense bounds. A black leopard once made an 

 attempt to escape through the bars of the roof of its outer den, which 

 is over 18 feet high ; to this height the animal attained partly by 

 jumping and partly by climbing up the grated partition. Some of 

 the leopards, especially in the early days of their incarceration, hide 

 themselves in the small square masonry tank in their outer dens or 

 under the wooden platforms in the inner. The leopard is not a noisy 

 animal ; it sometimes calls at night. 



(50) THE OUNCE OR SNOW-LEOPARD. 



(FELIS UNCIA— Schreb.) 



Description. — Smaller than a leopard. Head and body about 

 4 feet 4 inches, tail 3 feet, height about 2 feet. It has dense woolly 

 fur, the ground-colour is pale whitish grey, sometimes with a yellowish 

 tinge ; white below. There is a median dark band from near the 

 middle of the back to the root of the tail ; the rest of the body spotted. 

 Ears black, each with a large yellowish spot. 



Sab. — The ounce is found throughout the Himalayas at high 

 elevations, and is more common on the Thibetan side of the Snowy 

 range, where it is met with in the Upper Indus and Sutlej valleys. It 

 is fairly common in Grilgit. Young snow-leopards are sometimes 

 captured near Almora and sent down to the plains for sale. 



A snow-leopard has never been obtained for exhibition in this 

 garden. A specimen was brought down from Almora for transmission 

 to the Zoological Society's Garden, London, but it died from heat 



