panther is usually applied only to the large, fulvous
variety of _Felis pardus (Linn.) (F. leopardus, Leopardus varius)_.
The animal described in the text evidently was a specimen of the
hunting leopard, _Felis jubata (F. guttata, F. venatica)_.

6. This officer was one of the many '_condottieri_' of various
nationality who served the native powers during the eighteenth
century, and the early years of the nineteenth. He commanded five
infantry regiments at Gwalior. His 'kingdom-taking' raid in 1815 or
1816 is described _post_ in Chapter 49. The history of the family is
given by Compton in _European Military Adventures of Hindustan from
1784 to 1803_ (Unwin, 1892), App. pp, 352-6. In 1911 Michael Filose
of Gwalior was appointed K.C.I.E.

7.'G------' appears to have been Robert Gregory C.B.

8. The fiercely contested battle of Laswari was fought on November 1,
1803, between the British force under Lord Lake and the flower of
Sindhia's army, known as the 'Deccan Invincibles'. Sindhia's troops
lost about seven thousand killed and two thousand prisoners. The
British loss in killed and wounded amounted to more than eight
hundred. A medal to commemorate the victory was struck in London in
1851, and presented to the survivors. Laswari is a village in the
Alwar State, 128 miles south of Delhi.

9. Bharatpur (Bhurtpore), in the Jat State of the same name, is
thirty-four miles west of Agra. In January and February, 1805, Lord
Lake four times attempted to take it by assault, and each time was
repulsed with heavy loss. On January 18, 1826, Lord Combermere
stormed the fortress. The fortifications were then dismantled. A
large portion of the walls is now standing, and presents an imposing
appearance. They seem to have been repaired. See _post_, Chapter 62.

10. 'I will answer you by quoting what I have read somewhere or
other--in _Dionysius Halicarn_., I think--that history is philosophy
teaching by example' (Bolingbroke, _Letters on the Study and Use of
History_, Letter II, p. 14 of vol. viii of edition printed by T.
Cadell, London, 1770). The Greek words are. . . . . . . .

CHAPTER 18

Birds' Nests--Sports of Boyhood.

On the 6th[1] we came to Sayyidpur, ten miles, over an undulating
country, with a fine soil of decomposed basalt, reposing upon
syenite, with veins of feldspar and quartz. Cultivation partial, and
very bad; and population extremely scanty. We passed close to a
village, in which the children were all