ON THE ORIGINAL HOME OF THE TIGER. 699 



tiger-hunt. Of course there is an existing Persian word for tiger, but there is 

 nothing to show that it is at all ancient. 



My own idea is that the tiger was originally a purely northern animal, which 

 has gradually extended southward. I fancy that no allusion to a tiger in 

 India can be traced to a period anterior to the early Mahomedan conqueror3 

 of India. I should be much obliged to anyone who will help me to clear up 

 this question. We, English, have so completely assumed the idea that the 

 tiger is an Indian animal, that we have called him the Royal Bengal Tiger, 

 though I firmly believe he is as much an intruder from the north into Bengal 

 as we are ourselves. 



(The above appeared in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London in 



Vol. I of 1903.) 



