Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 2 (1898).djvu/192

160 that man-eaters are mangy and decrepit beasts, sans teeth, sans hair, and sans anything and everything that makes a Tiger the formidable creature he is in his prime. This is occasionally true, but man-slayers have also constantly been found to be sleek, lusty, and in their full strength and vigour. It is not, therefore, entirely dependent on age and its concomitant weakness that the Tiger takes to this habit. I think the argument advanced by many observers and naturalists that the animal, either accidentally or by press of hunger, having once seized a man and found out what an easy captive he had made, and in addition that the flesh is palatable, takes advantage of this acquired knowledge, and thenceforth becomes that dreaded being,—a man-eater,—is equally reasonable with the former, and may be accepted perhaps as the more probable of the two.

Although there is but one species, there are two varieties of this beast. The larger is styled by sportsmen the "Panther"; the Snow Leopard is only found in the Himalaya range in altitudes ranging from 8000 to 10,000 ft. The Panthers grow up to nearly eight feet in length, and are more savage, active, and determined than many a Tiger. The colouration is orange yellow, passing into white below. It is spotted with deep or brownish black, sometimes distinct, sometimes composed of two, three, or even four points disposed in a circle and surrounding a space, always somewhat darker than the ground colour, and shading into it below. Along the spine, on either side, the spots are arranged in parallel bands. On the head and legs the circular spots pass by degrees into mere points; the tail is ringed with annular spots. On the hinder part of the ears is a clear spot. In the true Panthers the rings are more regular than in the Leopards; but no two skins are exactly alike in marking. Panthers live more on cattle; Leopards principally on Dogs and any small game they can find,—consequently one is an inhabitant of the plains, and the other of hilly ground. Leopards are very plentiful in the Cossyah and Jynteah Hills, and when Shillong was first occupied, any Dog that ventured out of the house after dark was sure to be seized and carried away. Notably two large towns, Burpeltah and Hazoo, in Assam, were infested with