.)]

DESCRIPTION.--Much smaller than the last, with comparatively
shorter legs and rounder head; the fur is less bright; the
ground-work often darker in colour, and the rosettes are more
indistinct which is caused by the longer hairs intermingling and
breaking into the edges of the spots; tail long and furry at the end.
According to Temminck the tail is longer than that of the last species,
having 28 caudal vertebrae against 22 of the other; if this be found
to be the normal state, there will be additional grounds for
separating the two.

SIZE.--Head and body, 3 to 3-1/2 feet; tail, 2-1/2 feet; height from
1-1/2 to 2 feet.

This animal is more common than the pard, and it is more impudent
in venturing into inhabited places. This is fortunate, for it is
seldom a man-eater, although perhaps children may occasionally be
carried off. I have before mentioned one which killed and partially
devoured a pony in the heart of a populous town, and many are the
instances of dogs being carried off out of the verandahs of
Europeans' houses. A friend of mine one night being awoke by a piteous
howl from a dog, chained to the centre pole of his tent, saw the head
and shoulders of one peering in at the door; it retreated but had
the audacity to return in a few minutes. Jerdon and other writers
have adduced similar instances. It is this bold and reckless
disposition which renders it easier to trap and shoot. The tiger is
suspicious to a degree, and always apprehensive of a snare, but the
panther never seems to trouble his head about the matter, but walks
into a trap or resumes his feast on a previously killed carcase,
though it may have been moved and handled. There is another thing,
too, which shows the different nature of the beast. There is little
difficulty in shooting a panther on a dark night. All that is
necessary is to suspend, some little distance off, a common earthen
_gharra_ or water pot, with an oil light inside, the mouth covered
lightly with a sod, and a small hole knocked in the side in such a
way as to allow a ray of light to fall on the carcase. No tiger would
come near such an arrangement, but the panther boldly sets to his
dinner without suspicion, probably from his familiarity with the
lights in the huts of villages.

I may here digress a little on the subject of night shooting. Every
one who has tried it knows the extreme difficulty in seeing the sights
of the rifle in a dark night. The common native method is t