404 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XIX. 



prey by scent, either smelling the animals directly or following their 

 racks." As I have already said, tigers appear to hunt more by sight 

 and hearing than by scent. They follow the paths or the water- 

 courses as a rule, and so no doubt follow the tracks of other animals, 

 for all game prefers a beaten path. They visit the various water- 

 holes in their beat, and I have often found them frequent a beat 

 with remarkable regularity. They catch animals drinking at the 

 pools, or lie in concealment at such places and other suitable spots, 

 and so surprise their prey. Mr. Selous also tells us that the leopard 

 hunts by night and by scent. I have certainly always been under 

 the impression, from general observations of its habits, that the 

 Indian leopard or panther hunts by sight and sound. It is fond of 

 prowling round villages to pick up stray goats or dogs, or of following 

 in the wake of herds of goats, and carrying off stragglers ; of wild 

 animals, it preys on pigs, nilgai, and small game such as peafowl, 

 hares, porcupines, and small deer. I shot one once that was well 

 known as being in the habit of hunting monkeys of the lungoor 

 species. It would be very unlikely to hunt monkeys by scent. 



With reference to animal colouration, Mr. Selous remarks that 

 lions prey largely on buffaloes, but little on giraffes; so if colouration 

 is for protective purposes, the former surely require it the most. It is 

 interesting to note that in South Africa, where these animals formed 

 the principal food of the lions, the great carnivora used to live with 

 and follow the larger herds in all their wanderings. I have similarly 

 found tigers following and living in the vicinity of the large herds 

 of Brinjara cattle in Hyderabad, when the Brinjaras moved from one 

 pasturage to another, according to the season of the year. 



Mr. Selous adduces evidence to show that man-eating lions are 

 almost invariably old and worn-out animals, although the famous 

 man-eaters of Tsavo by no means answered to this description. But 

 he says that " in the vast majority of cases a lion only takes to 

 killing human beings in its declining years, and when its strength 

 is failing." The same idea is generally prevalent with regard to 

 man-eating tigers. 1 have myself killed only two tigers that had 

 been preying on human beings. One of these was known to have 

 killed only two or three human beings ; the other had devoured 

 about a dozen people. Both were in the prime of life, and were not 

 averse to cattle-killing. The latter would probably have become 



