File:Sport on the Nilgiris and in Wynaad (1911) (14780107344).jpg

Identifier: sportonnilgirisi00flet (find matches)
Title: Sport on the Nilgiris and in Wynaad
Year: 1911 (1910s)
Authors: Fletcher, F. W. F
Subjects: Hunting
Publisher: London, Macmillan
Contributing Library: Boston Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Boston Public Library

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is one : and just as often, perhaps,I have seen them die Hke sheep. I have chosen thisparticular spearing as affording an example of the sportthat may usually be expected. But is tiger-spearing sport .^ Cruel it certainly is, but then all sport iscruel in the sense that it can only be enjoyed at thecost of animal life. And if, as I take it, real sportmust involve some personal risk to the sportsman,tiger-spearing certainly merits the name. For thoughthe actual spearing is devoid of danger—the tigerwhen once in the net having practically no chance ofescape—still the netting of the tiger is a dangerousservice ; and when the net encloses too large a space,to close it in is a fearfully risky proceeding. So, taking one consideration with another, I think tiger-spearing as conducted in the Wynaad is fairly entitledto rank as Sport—with a capital S. THE LEOPARD Scientific name.—Felis pardusTamil name.—Chiruthay.Kanarese name.—Kirba.Kurumba name.—Kirba.Nayaka name.—Kirba. .207
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THE LEOPARD So far as animal nomenclature is concerned, South(ndia is a land of misnomers ; and we cling heroicallyto our old-world traditions. The muntjac, though atrue deer, is universally called the jungle sheep;;he sambur was until recently (and is still, I believe, inC^eylon) designated the elk ; the Nilgiri wild goatDoses as the ibex ; the leopard masquerades as the cheetah ; and the gaur is—and despite the floutingDf purists always will be—the bison. This adherence:o old and quite erroneous names, bestowed on theyame animals in days when the sportsman did notTouble to be a naturalist, does not make for clearness.Confusion, in fact, could scarcely be worse confounded ;Dut in regard to no animal is the confusion more pro-lounced than in the case of the leopard. Not only is:he native name of cheetah applied indiscriminately:o both the large pard or panther and the small pardDr leopard, but it is used to designate still a thirdinimal—the hunting leopard. The inclusion of this

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