26 



RANDOM NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY. 



My First Capture of a Tiger. 



FROM "TWO YEARS IN THE lUXGLE." 



BY WILLIAM T. HORNADAY. 



" We Strolled through the Government 

 Forest until nearly noon, when, just as we 

 were about returning to camp, we heard a 

 fearful growling and roaring a few hun- 

 dred yards in advance which set us instantly 

 on the qui-vioe. We hurried in the di- 

 rection of the sound, which continued at 

 intervals for some minutes. I said : ' Tiger, 

 Vera?' and he repUed : 'No, sahib, pan- 

 ther, shall we go for it?' 'Of course' and 

 on we went. 



" Presently we heard trumpeting and 

 branch breaking half a mile beyond us, and 

 then Vera said the low roaring, or growling 

 noise had been made by the elepliants. On 

 our way toward the elephants to have a 

 quiet look at them, we came to a little 

 nullah,* and there in the level sandy bed of 

 the stream was the trail of a large tiger. 



"The men carefully examined the huge 

 tracks in the wet sand, compared notes a 

 moment and declared the trail was fresh. 

 Then I examined it for myself, looked wise 

 and said, ' Oh, yes, it is very fresh in- 

 deed.' Vera looked anxiously about a 

 moment, examined the bore of my rifle 

 doubtfully, tried to measure it with the end 

 of his little finger, and finally asked me 

 ver}' seriously whether I would dare to fire 

 at a big tiger with that small rifle, I said 

 ' Yes, certainh" ; just show me one and 

 see.' I did not for a moment allow mj'self 

 to hope for such good luck as a meeting 

 with the animal that made those huge 

 tracks and a shot at him, but without a 

 moment's delay we started to follow up the 

 trail. 



"The little creek ran through perfectly 

 level and verj' open forest. Its bed was 

 about eight feet below the level, forty feet 

 wide, and almost dr^'. The tiger had gone 

 loafing leisure!}^ along down the bed of the 

 stream, walking in the shallow water every 

 now and then, crossing from side to side, 

 and occasionall}' sticking his claws into the 



*" Nullah is an Indian term of the most compre- 

 hensive signification used in speaking of any channel 

 or water-course, and applied alike to a small river or 

 deep ravine, to the sandy bed of a dried up stfeam, 

 or a wet gutter." — A. C. McMaster. 



bank as if to keep them in practice. Veraled 

 the wa}', as usual, 1 followed close at his 

 heels, and we stole along as silenth^ as shad- 

 ows. 



"We had followed the trail about a mile, 

 when we came to a clump of bamboos grow- 

 ing in a sharp bend in the stream. Vera 

 stopped short, grasped me by the arm, and 

 pointed through the clump. He had the 

 habit of grasping my arm with one hand, 

 and pointing with the other whenever he 

 discovered an}- game, and I could always 

 tell the size and ferocity of the animal by 

 the strength of his grasp. This time he 

 gave m3' arm such a fierce grip 1 knew he 

 must have found a tiger. 



" Sure enough, there was Old Stripes in all 

 his glory, and only thirty 3'ards away ! The 

 midday sun shone full upon him, and a 

 more splendid object I never saw in a for- 

 est. His long, jet black stripes seemed to 

 stand out in relief like bands of black vel- 

 vet, while the black and white markings 

 upon his head were most beautiful. In size 

 and height he seemed perfecth' immense, and 

 my first thought was, ' Great Caesar ! he is 

 as big as an ox ! ' 



" When we first saw him he was walking 

 from us, going across the bed of the stream. 

 Knowing precisely what I wanted to do, I 

 took a spare cartridge between m^^ teeth, 

 raised my rifle and waited. He reached the 

 other bank, snifted it a moment, then turned 

 and paced slowly back. Just as he reached 

 the middle of the stream he scented us, 

 stopped short, raised his head and looked in 

 our direction with a suspicious angr^' snarl. 

 Now was my time to fire. Taking a steady, 

 careful aim at his left eye, I blazed awaj' and 

 without stopping to see the effect of nn' 

 shot, reloaded ray rifle with all haste. 1 

 half expected to see the great brute come 

 bounding round that clump of bamboos and 

 upon one of us ; but I thought it might not 

 be I he would attack, and before he could 

 kill one of my men I could send a bullet 

 into his brain. 



"Vera kept an eye upon him every 

 moment, and when I was again read}' I 

 asked him with my e^-ebrow ' Where is he? ' 

 He quickly nodded, 'He's there still.' I 

 looked again and sure enough he was in the 

 same spot, but turning slowh* around and 

 around, with his head held to one side as if 

 there was something the matter with his left 



