CHAPTER II 



SOME PRE-WAR TIGER SHOOTS 



" Tiger, tiger, burning bright, 

 In the forests of the night. 

 What immortal hand or eye 

 Framed thy fearful symmetry ? " 



I HAVE devoted considerable space in this book 

 to tiger. For, to my mind there is a romance 

 and a devilishness about a tiger possessed by no 

 other Indian animal. To meet and overcome 

 a tiger is probably the first great ambition of 

 every young big game hunter, and the scope 

 and variety of action of this fine beast so much 

 exceed that of other animals that I, for one, 

 could never tire of hunting him. 



A chapter on pre-war shooting has been 

 included in order that the young sportsman may 

 realize what it was then, and how well that of the 

 present day compares with it, if a man goes the 

 right way to work. 



My first introduction to tiger was in 1894. 

 I was then quartered at Secunderabad in the 

 Deccan, which I considered then, and do still con- 

 sider, to be one of the best sporting stations in 

 India. There was excellent tiger-shooting within 

 reach. Panther abounded ; and many a happy 

 Wednesday and Saturday did I have, riding out 



