56 lloyd ; s natural historV. 



persecutor. Some reference to the enormous destruction ot 

 human life by Tigers, and likewise the loss inflicted by them 

 on cattle-owners, is made under the head of the Leopard. 



A Snake seems a rather extraordinary meal for a Tiger, but 

 in the " Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society " for 

 1893, Mr. J. D. Inverarily writes that on opening the stomach 

 of a Tigress " he found in it the tail end of a Snake that the 

 Tigress had bitten off and swallowed whole j the portion 

 swallowed measured two feet three inches in length. Though 

 quite fresh, the pattern of the skin was rather spoiled by diges- 

 tion, and I am not sure what kind of snake' it was, but it 

 appeared to me to be a Rock-Snake. There were no teeth 

 marks on it, nor was there any breakage of the bones. It 

 seems somewhat remarkable that a piece of this length should 

 be bolted whole. The natives thought that the Tigress had 

 caught it in the water when she went to drink. I should estimate 

 the piece bitten off at about one third of the Snake's length." 



Cattle are killed generally by the Tiger seizing the fore- 

 quarters with his fore-paws, one of which is generally thrown 

 across the animal's shoulders, while the throat is gripped from 

 below by the jaws ; a sudden upward wrench, during which the 

 destroyer sometimes springs to the off side of his victim, results 

 in causing the dislocation of the neck of the latter. Occa- 

 sionally, however, cattle are seized by the neck j while it is 

 possible that on rare occasions a blow from the powerful paw 

 may be the immediate cause of death. Still more rarely, large 

 animals, such as Gaur and Buffalo, are hamstrung by Tigers. 

 In devouring its prey, a Tiger invariably, or almost always, 

 commences its meal on the flesh of the hind-quarters. 



Although, as already mentioned, uttered much less frequently, 

 the roar of the Tiger is very similar to that of the Lion ; and 

 it has been well described as a prolonged moaning, thrilling 

 sound at the commencement, which is repeated two or three 



