VIII 
THE LEOPARD 
279 
bird, and it is the first to discover the body of any 
animal that may have been killed. Should one or 
more of these birds be perched in the trees after 
sunset, near the carcase of an animal, and should it 
utter a ‘‘ caw,” when at that late hour it should have 
gone to roost, you may be assured that it has espied 
an approaching leopard, although it may be invisible 
to your own sight. The watcher should be careful 
not to move, but to redouble his vigilance in keeping 
a bright look-out, as the leopard will be equally upon 
its guard should it hear the cry of the warning crow. 
There is very little sport afforded by this stealthy 
animal, and it is almost useless to organize a special 
hunt, as it is impossible to form any correct opinion 
respecting its locality after it has killed an animal. 
It may either be asleep in some distant ravine, or 
among the giant branches of some old tree, or 
beneath the rocks in some adjacent hill, or retired 
within a cave, but it has no special character or 
custom that would guide the hunter in arranging a 
beat according to the usual rules in the case of 
tigers. The leopard is merely a nuisance, and as 
such it should be treated as vermin, and exter¬ 
minated if possible. 
There are various forms of traps adopted by the 
natives in different countries; the most certain is 
the old-fashioned fall, similar upon a large scale to 
the common fall mouse-traps. These should be 
permanent fixtures in various portions of the 
jungles, and they should be baited whenever the 
tracks of a leopard may be discovered in the neigh- 
