364 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



uaily by a double blow with both fore- 

 paws, one paw striking heavily down 

 on the neck just in front of the should- 

 ers and the other striking violently 

 upward under the chm (the combined 

 effect of the two being to snap the 

 brawny neck as easily as the stem of 

 a clay-pipe ) — when it had done this 

 the tiger drove its fangs deep into the 

 victim's throat, cutting through the 

 blood-vessels and drinking thence the 

 hot stream of blood that gushed vio- 

 lently out, as from a high-pressure tap 

 turned on to the full. It is no exag- 

 geration to say that while a tiger, or 

 cheetah, or other large wild cat is thus 

 engaged, its stomach can be seen to 

 swell visibly in size; so copious is the 

 draught of blood. Naturally, it does 

 not proceed at once to eat part of the 

 carcase. It is replete. But liquid 

 blood is so easily digested that, be- 

 fore many hours have passed, it will 

 be back again at the "kill," satisfying 

 hunger more solidly and for a longer 

 period. 



And before it returns, while the 

 sportsman may be viewing the "kill" 

 and making arrangements for his mid- 

 night vigil, what is the tiger doing? 

 Only "purring" probably. It began to 

 "purr" as soon as it fixed its teeth in 

 the bullock's throat, and it "purrs" 

 again as it lies in its lair and dozes off 

 its surfeit of fresh blood. In the first 

 instance, no doubt, its "purr" was the 

 natural result of circumstances. It 

 could only breathe through a film of 

 the blood that was gurgling down its 

 throat. Even afterwards, as it lay at 

 ease, it may have been so full of the 

 blood that each breath was naturally 

 drawn through bursting bubbles of it ; 

 and it needs no vivid imagination to 

 understand how and why the "purr- 

 purr" of the indrawn and out-blown 

 breath became the highest expression 

 of the great cat's content. And all 

 cats are tigers in miniature. The rab- 

 bit is the bullock and the rat the goat 

 of the common cat; and. though the 

 domestic Pussy may seldom actually 

 breathe through air-passages brimming 

 with blood, the glorious suggestion of 

 the hereditary sensation is there, when 

 the breath comes slowly, "purr-purr," 

 like the voice of the turtle-dove, 

 through a liauid film at the back of 

 the throat. I do not suppose for an 



instant that the cat is conscious of 

 the reason why "purring" and pleas- 

 ure go together. But watch any kit- 

 ten when she is "purring" her loudest 

 on the rug, as her claws go in and out 

 of the yielding hairy surface as if 

 squeezing the blood out of the victim's 

 throat — there you have a complete pic- 

 ture of the instinct of the fierce wild 

 tiger's life in your undeveloped "harm- 

 less necessary cat" ; and the "purr" is 

 its audible expression of the hunting 

 fury of bygone ages. 



For the reason why a cheetah, with 

 its teeth fixed in the antelope's throat, 

 purrs as the blood gushes down its 

 throat, is not that it is consciously 

 pleased or purrs "on purpose." It 

 purrs because it cannot breathe other- 

 wise. Try the experiment upon your- 

 self, and see. Imagine yourself with 

 a rich stream of blood flowing down 

 your throat — not that you are merely 

 drinking, but that the arteries of an 

 animal as big as yourself are pumping 

 their full force of blood down your 

 throat while you are gripping the 

 dying creature with your teeth and 

 squeezing its throat with both hands. 

 Imagine yourself in this tiger-like posi- 

 tion, and then breathe. You will find 

 that you must breathe through the 

 upper part of the air passage only ; and, 

 though the stream of blood is imagin- 

 ary only, you begin to purr. That is 

 why the tiger purrs with its teeth 

 buried in the bullock's neck, and his 

 claws gripping the shivering carcass, 

 and it is the inherited association of 

 ideas which makes Pussy purr like a 

 clockwork machine as she plunges her 

 claws into the hearthrug and grips 

 them out again. 



A Tree Worth $60,000. 



A single rubber tree in Bolivia sup- 

 ports a family of seven persons in com- 

 parative affluence. This lone tree has 

 stood for generations, until it now meas- 

 ures about 27 feet in circumference at 

 the base. The daily yield of caoutchouc 

 is more than twenty-two pounds during 

 the 120 days of the year that the tree can 

 be successfullv tapped, or almost a ton 

 and a half of this precious product an- 

 nually. On the basis of this yield the 

 tree has an estimated value of $60,000. — ■ 

 Tree Talk. 



