DIGITIGRADE CARNIVOEA. 



545 



his flashing eyes; he bares his teeth, and shows his spine-clad 

 tongue, at the same time protruding his claws, which are as long as 

 a man's finger. The Lioness is destitute of a mane; she goes 

 with young five months, and produces but one brood in the year ; 



'^4 



Fig. 469. -lion. 



her whelps are generally from two to four in number ; the parent 

 nurses them with great assiduity, and attends them on their first 

 excursions in search of prey. 



The Royal Tiger Fdis Tigris), the scourge of India, is as large 

 as the Lion, but with a more elongated body and rounder head, 

 of a bright tawny colour above, and pure white underneath, with 

 irregiilar black stripes across the back. Its strength and the rapidity 

 of its movements are such that, during the march of an army, it has 

 been known to snatch a horseman from his saddle, and carry him off 

 into the recesses of the woods, without the possibility of rescue. The 

 Tiger's mode of seizing his prey is by concealing himself from view, 

 and springing with a terrific roar upon his victim, which he carries 

 off, and tears to pieces, after having first sucked the blood. The 

 Tigress produces four or five young at a litter. When robbed of her 

 cubs, her rage knows no bounds ; braving every danger, she pursues 

 her plunderers even to tlie very gates of buildings, and when the hope 

 of recovering them is lost, she expresses her agony by hideous and 

 terrific bowlings. 



