. Cassell's natural history. Animals; Animal behavior. EXTERXAL CUAILlCTErjJ OF THE LEOPARD. in beauty and elegance, and, indeed, called it the Carnivore j^ar excellence. Unfortunately, most English people have no means of forming a true opinion on a matter of this soi-t, as we see the animals only in menageries ; Ijut judging from the specimens we have seen in confinement, we should incline to the belief that it is far behind both the Lion and Tiger, and is even beaten by the Jaguar in tue matter of colouring, although the surly look of the latter makes him, on the whole, a far less at- tract
. Cassell's natural history. Animals; Animal behavior. EXTERXAL CUAILlCTErjJ OF THE LEOPARD. in beauty and elegance, and, indeed, called it the Carnivore j^ar excellence. Unfortunately, most English people have no means of forming a true opinion on a matter of this soi-t, as we see the animals only in menageries ; Ijut judging from the specimens we have seen in confinement, we should incline to the belief that it is far behind both the Lion and Tiger, and is even beaten by the Jaguar in tue matter of colouring, although the surly look of the latter makes him, on the whole, a far less at- tractive beast. The adulfc Leopard in the London Zoological Gardens is perhaps the clumsiest brute in the whole Lion-house—fat, bull-necked, and stupid-lookiiig. Stupid-looking, and even clumsy, that is, when lying lazily asleep on the floor of his den; but watch him when four o'clock comes, and the meat-barrow ijoes round, and tlien where will voti find more marvellous agilitv? All the Cats are C_ *^K. 'X alike in this ; they are very lazy at times, but when tliey Jo begin to move, there is no more complete example of perfectly graceful movement, and one feels as if he could watch them " on and off for days and days," as Alice's frog-footman puts it. The chai-acters of the hide are so characteristic that they must be given in some detail, especially as the spots must be distinguished from those of the Jaguar, the gi-eat spotted Cat of the New World. The skin is described as follows :—" On an orange-yellow ground, passing below into white, are sjwts of deep or brownish-black, sometimes distinc-t, sometimes composed of two, three, or even four points disposed in a circle, and surrounding a space, always somewhat darkei' than the gi-ound-colour, and sliading into it below. On the medio-dorsal line, in the hinder part of the body, the spots are so arranged as to produce three or even four regular jiarallel bands. On the side of the body, also, bands are found, but th
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjecta, booksubjectanimals
