There is a Scottish adage which says that “Hawks will not peck out hawks’ een;” but the Leopard, a Carnivore, has a confirmed liking for the flesh of the flesh-eating Dog. This fact has been observed by a writer who states that the Leopard has quite a mania for that sort of diet, and will not hesitate to penetrate into a tent at night in quest of his favourite game. There is a rather curious habit of the Leopards which we have observed at the Zoological Gardens, though whether it holds good with all Leopards we are not prepared to say, never having seen the circumstance mentioned. The Lion and Tiger, when devouring their reeking bones at their four o’clock dinner, at Regent’s Park, lie down at full length, and hold the meat between their fore-paws, in this way steadying it while they take their tremendous bites. The Leopards, on the other hand, do not lie down, but squat on their haunches, the fore-legs being kept almost vertical, and the head, of course, correspondingly bent down to reach the food. The paws are rarely used to steady the piece of meat, and only, in fact, when the beast comes across a particularly fractious morsel which he finds it impossible to manage with his teeth alone. For this reason, a Leopard in the act of feeding is a far more awkward-looking beast than the Lion or Tiger, both of which hold their food in quite a civilised way. In connection with the Leopard’s mode of feeding, we may mention a curious tale about its diet. There can be little doubt that it is a mere “yarn,” or rather a piece of folk-lore, but still it is interesting, especially when we think of the many tales of clay-eating men:--“The natives [of Ceylon] assert that it devours the _kaolin_ clay, called by them _kiri mattee_, in a very peculiar way. They say that the Cheetah [Leopard] places it in lumps beside him, and then gazes intently on the sun, till, on turning his eyes on the clay, every piece appears of a red colour like flesh, when he instantly devours it.”