Book Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1901 edition. Excerpt: ... chapter X My duties as tiger slayer--Panthers included--Some description of them--Variety of the species--Size, weight, and markings--What they prey on--Climbing powers--Their courage and ferocity in attack--How they feed on their kills--Man-eating leopards--The black panther rare--The cheetah--Panthers difficult to locate--Returning to their kills--Dangerous to follow up--An experiment with buckshot--S.S.G. best for close quarters--Panther unexpectedly encountered--My shikari attacked and mauled--A huge beast--Another panther hunt--Attacks and mauls beater--Its final charge--Finished with S.S.A.--The uncertainty of sport--Killed with a single shot--Handsomely marked skins--An unusual sight--Tiger and panther seen together--Abject terror of the latter--Slinking off into the jungle--A tiger's sovereignty of the jungles--The wild boar excepted--Uncertainty the fascination of Indian sport--An unexpected meeting with a bear--Bagged--Capture the cub--Becomes quite tame in time--Walking out with the dogs--A leopard adventure in Bengal--Shooting for the pot--A partridge shot--Retrieving the bird--Sudden appearance of a leopard--Changing cartridges--Leopard dropped but still alive--Attempts to charge--No more ball cartridge--On tho horns of a dilemma--My orderly's ingenuity--An extemporised projectile--Complete success. Although the main object of my appointment as tiger slayer was, naturally, the destruction of these particular animals, yet, though not officially stated, the office was intended to include the reduction of all other beasts of prey dangerous to human life or cattle, especially leopards or panthers, as they are equally often termed. As these animals are actually far more destructive to cattle and goats, and more numerous, too, ..