Leopard

“ They could see the leopard distinctly making its way down the slope, taking advantage of every inequality of ground, of small bushes, of ant-hills, and even of tufts of grass; creeping softly from one to another, and crouching to the ground if the deer showed the slightest symptoms of alarm. Once a huge black buck, the monarch of the herd, rose from the ground where he had been lying, stretched himself lazily, and ran playfully after some young fawns who had dared to approach him; and the leopard seemed to understand this, for it lay as if dead among some grass of very much its own colour. ”

“ The spotted body harmonizes so perfectly with the broken lights and deep shadows of the foliage that even a practised hunter will not enter a covert in search of a Leopard unless he is accompanied by dogs. The instinct which teaches the Leopard to choose such localities is truly wonderful, and may be compared with that of the tiger, which cares little for underwood, but haunts the grass jungles, where the long, narrow blades harmonize with the stripes which decorate its body. ”

“ Viewed in his wild state, few animals can surpass the lurking Leopard in point of beauty, his brilliant orange and white skin, which shines like silk, being richly studded with open rosettes, sometimes of the most intense sable, at others disposed as if a Cat had been walking over him with her paws tarred. ”

“ The nature of this beautiful creature is entirely opposed to the cat-like crouching tactics of the ordinary leopard: its large and prominent eyes embrace a wide field of view; the length of neck and legs, combined with the erect attitude of the head, denotes the character of the animal, as it includes a vast distance in its gaze, showing that it seeks its game upon a wide expanse of plain, instead of surprising the prey by an unexpected and treacherous attack. ”

“ The lovely leopard occasionally rises to his feet and looks at them, and then lies down again, giving a soft sweep to his long and rather vicious tail. His countenance is devoid of the nobility of the lion’s. The lion’s face inspires you with confidence; but I can see little to trust in the yellow depths of his eyes. The lion’s eyes, like those of all untamed beasts, have the repulsive trait of looking at you without any recognition in them—the dull glare of animality. ”

“ He went in the direction of the sound to see what was the matter and found that his dog had flushed an enormous leopard. Neither had made any attack, but the instant the leopard saw a man approaching it made up its mind and sprang so quickly that the dog was taken by surprise. The leopard seized the dog by the throat and by dint of claws and teeth bore it the ground. Before the man could interfere the leopard had regained its feet without loosening its hold on the dog's throat and literally dragged it off into the jungle. ”

“ As soon as the men had obtained silence on one side of the clump of brushwood, wherein Mr Spots was waiting for the clamour to subside, and the men began yelling on the other sides of it, the leopard stepped cautiously into the open on the silent quarter, looking like a detected thief, preparing to run, with his tail between his legs, like a dog that feels he is about to be kicked and deserves it. On seeing an unexpected man in front of him, the leopard shrank aside, apologetically, as if abashed. ”

“ Let thy natural form disappear and be thou a leopard, O son!' At these words, the dog was transformed into a leopard with skin bright as gold. With stripes on his body and with large teeth, thenceforth he began to live in that forest fearlessly. Meanwhile, the leopard, seeing before him an animal of his own species, immediately forsook all feelings of animosity towards it. Some time after, there came into the hermitage a fierce and hungry tiger with open mouth. ”

“ The leopard, like the elephant, is at home in every kind of country in East Africa—on the plains, among the rocky hills, among the bamboo, and in the forest all the way up to timber line on the equatorial mountains. Unlike the lion, the leopard is a solitary beast. ”

“ Much smaller than either the lion or the tiger, but still a very large and powerful animal, is the leopard, which is sometimes known as the panther. It is spread over almost the whole of Africa, and also over the greater part of Asia, and in many districts is very common.
You can always recognize the leopard by its markings. The ground color of the fur is bright yellow, with just a tinge of red in it, becoming lighter on the flanks, and passing into white on the lower surface of the body. ”

“ Hunger drives a dog to hunt, so the leopard; passion the cat, so the leopard. A cat is sufficient unto himself, and a leopard is so; but a dog hangs on a man's nod, and a leopard can so be beguiled. A leopard is sleek as a cat and pleased by stroking ”

“ Without a sight of what I was shooting at, I shot hastily into the bush. The snarl of a leopard told me what kind of a customer I was taking chances with. A leopard is a cat and has all the qualities that gave rise to the "nine lives" legend. To kill him you have got to kill him clear to the tip of his tail. Added to that, a leopard, unlike a lion, is vindictive. A wounded leopard will fight to a finish practically every time, no matter how many chances it has to escape. ”

“ The leopard's strength is so great that he can break a steer's neck with a blow of his paw. He cannot carry a steer on his back, which a tiger can do, but still the leopard can drag the steer for some distance. As for a deer, the leopard can easily carry it. ”

“ The leopard is pretty and delicate, but is, nevertheless, subject to anger, to lying in ambush, to treachery, and is at once timid and bold, which exactly corresponds with his external appearance; and so it is with all other animals. ”

“ Our stolen homestead being of native make, I had a great loop-hole made for me in the inner circle and remained inside our main camp, You have to do this miserable form of sport to bag leopards, because they are too cunning as a rule to appear in the day-time, and rarely walk about in the open way lions will. There is nothing magnificent about the character of a leopard. He is a mere cunning thief.
A rush, and the leopard was on his prey, his side towards me, his tail slowly lashing from left to right with pleasure as he drank the warm blood. ”

“ After being cooped up in the hills for so long it was a pleasure to get a good gallop over the open plain, and I was riding along, thoroughly enjoying the exercise, when, chancing to look round to see how far my gun-bearer was behind, I saw a leopard following me at a distance of about thirty yards. I at once pulled up, when the leopard immediately followed my example, and, after looking at one another for a minute or two, the animal began walking slowly up and down, swishing its tail about, and looking for all the world like a big cat, but it did not offer to approach any nearer. ”

“ Leopard.—The cult of the leopard is widely found in West Africa. Among the Ewe a man who kills one is liable to be put to death; no leopard skin may be exposed to view, but a stuffed leopard is worshipped. On the Gold Coast a leopard hunter who has killed his victim is carried round the town behind the body of the leopard; he may not speak, must besmear himself so as to look like a leopard and imitate its movements. In Loango a prince’s cap is put upon the head of a dead leopard, and dances are held in its honour. ”

“ The leopard seizes his prey by the throat when it is a swift-footed animal, like the deer. But when it is a slow-footed animal, like cattle, the leopard uses another method—at least on some occasions. He rushes to the prey from the side or the back, and kills it by a blow of his paw on the neck from above—as a tiger does. If one blow only stuns the prey, and it falls, the leopard just starts eating the throat, which of course kills the prey. ”

“ During the day the leopard hides himself either in the hollow of some one of the gigantic trees, with which these forests abound, or sleeps quietly on some branch, waiting for the approach of night. He seldom goes out before one o'clock in the morning, unless pressed by hunger, and about four o'clock he goes back to his lair. ”

“ It is really wonderful how much this little animal, made of parts of a beautiful flower and broom-straws, looks like the stealthy, prowling, wild creature which lives in Africa and Asia. The yellow coat of the live leopard is covered with black spots, and so is that of our flower leopard. The fierce living animal has a long tail that it moves slowly [79] back and forth in anger or when it threatens to attack another animal or a man. Our little leopard also has a long tail which, if it does not really move, looks as if it were just going to. ”

“ In habits the leopard resembles the other large cat-like animals, yielding to none in the ferocity of its disposition. It is exceedingly quick in its movements, but seizes its prey by waiting in ambush or stealthily approaching to within springing distance, when it suddenly rushes upon it and tears it to ground with its powerful claws and teeth. It preys upon almost any animal it can overcome, such as antelopes, deer, sheep, goats, monkeys, peafowl, and has a special liking for dogs. ”

“ THE SOUND OF HUMANITY The leopard, if not the boldest of all the feline tribes, is at least the best acquainted with mankind. His partiality for dogs makes him familiar with men’s villages. More than any other beast, perhaps, he is prompt to turn at bay when wounded and “charge home.” Many a man has lost his life to a wounded leopard. Yet even a leopard is daunted by the sound of humanity.
In 1888 a big one was seen in a large village, not far from Maulmain, one morning. ”

“ THE LEOPARD. The Leopard is smaller and more active than the Tiger and larger than the Panther. It is arboreal in its habits and finds in the spots or rosettes which decorate its tawny skin a provision highly favorable to concealment among the foliage, wherein it lurks, until some passing animal approaches sufficiently near to enable it to spring upon its unsuspecting prey. ”

“ It hides itself tolerably near the fold, and then begins to growl in a low voice. The dogs think that they hear a Leopard at a distance, and dash towards the sound with furious barks and yells. In so doing, they are sure to pass by the hiding-place of the Leopard, which springs upon them unawares, knocks one of them over, and bounds away to its den in the woods. ”

“ The leopard always shows its mask of face, its usual posture is to be busy; if it crawls, it is said lionné or crawling.
The lion and the leopard have additional terms which are common for them; they are armed, lampassés, joined, are membrés, crowned, leaned, faced, circumvented, contrepassants, issuant, being born, mornés, defamed, burellés, bandaged, crossed, left, fascés, chequered, of ermine, squirrel fur. ”

“ Unable to catch gazelles, because of their adroitness, the leopard wrecks his anger on all other beasts by killing them at any opportunity.
These two beasts, Leopard and Jackal, were living together in the same town. Leopard said to Jackal, “My friend! I do not eat all sorts of food; I eat only animals.” So, one day, Leopard went to search for some beast in the forest. ”

“ In size it is about as big as a small leopard, and its yellow brown fur is marked with stripes like those of the tiger, spots like those of the leopard, rosettes like those of the jaguar, and blotches like those of the ocelots, while its tail is adorned with rings of glossy black. So, you see, it is a very handsome animal.
We do not know very much about its habits, but it seems to [59] live almost entirely in the trees, and to prey chiefly upon birds, while those who have caught and tamed it say that it is very gentle and playful. ”

“ Finally, Leopard became tired of his losses; and, one day, without letting anyone know what he intended doing, he said, “I will take a little walk.” Rat says, “You go alone? May I accompany you?” Leopard said, “No! I go alone; I won’t be long away; and I do not go far.”
So Leopard went to the wizard Ra-Marânge, whom as soon as he saw him, exclaimed, “What are you come for? Are you in trouble?” Leopard told him the matter of the losses of the meat. Then Ra-Marânge jumped into his fire, and emerged powerful and wise. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In this solitary region the leopards and other ferae, as I have often heard, never being disturbed by gunners, are extraordinarily fierce and audacious. The leopard, a male, was evidently very hungry, as its empty stomach testified, and after once tasting blood—that of the dog—it soon got over its temporary scare. ”

“ It is hardly possible to recognise the graceful, lithe glossy creature, whose walk is so noiseless, and whose every movement is so easy, in the furious passion-swollen animal that flies at every foe with blind fury, and pours out sounds so fierce and menacing that few men, however well armed, will care to face it.
As is the case with most of the cat tribe, the Leopard is an excellent climber, and can ascend trees and traverse their boughs without the least difficulty. It is so fond of trees, that it is seldom to be seen except in a well-wooded district. ”