FELIs. 173 
Tigers are also eccentric in their ways, showing differences in dispo. 
sition under different circumstances. I believe that many a shikari 
passes at times within a few yards of a tiger without knowing it, the 
tendency of the animal being to crouch and hide until the strange- 
looking two-legged beast has passed. ‘The narrowest escape I ever had 
is an instance. I had hunted a large tiger, well known for the savage- 
ness of his disposition, on foot from ravine to ravine on the banks of 
the Pench, one hot day in June, and, giving him no rest, made sure of 
getting him about three o’clock in the afternoon. He had been seen to 
slip into a large nullah, bordered on one side by open country, a small 
water-course draining into it from the fields; here was one large beyr 
bush, behind which I wished to place myself, but was persuaded by an 
old shikari of great local reputation to move farther on. Hardly nad 
we done so when our friend bounded from under the bush and dis- 
appeared in a thicket, where we lost him. Ten days after this he was 
killed by a friend and myself, and he sustained his savage reputation by 
attacking the elephant without provocation—a thing a tiger seldom 
does. I had hunted this animal several times, and on one occasion 
saw him swim the Pench river at one of its broadest reaches. It was 
the only time I had seen a tiger swim, and it was interesting to watch 
him powerfully breasting the stream with his head well up. Tigers 
swim readily, as is well known. I believe it is not uncommon to see 
them take to the water in the Sunderbunds ; and a recent case may be 
remembered when two of them escaped from the King of Oude’s 
Menagerie, and one swam across the Hooghly to the Botanical Gardens. 
There has been some controversy about the way in which tigers kill 
their prey. I am afraid I cannot speak definitely on the subject, 
although I have on several occasions seen tigers kill oxen and ponies. 
I do not think they have a uniform way of doing it, so much depends 
upon circumstances—certain it is that they cannot smash in the head of 
a buffalo with a stroke, as some writers make out, but yet I have known 
them make strokes at the head, in a running fight, for instance, between 
a buffalo and a tiger—in which the former got off—and in the case of 
human beings. Of two men killed by the same tiger, one had his skull 
fractured by a blow; the other, who was killed as we were endeavouring 
to drive the tiger out of the village, was seized by the loins. He died 
immediately; the man with the fractured skull lingered some hours 
longer. Another case of a stroke at the head happened once when I 
had tied out a pony for a tiger that would not look at cows, over 
which I had sat for several successive nights. A tiger and tigress 
came out, and the former made a rush at the atv, who met him with 
such a kick on the nose that he drew back much astonished; the 
tigress then dashed at the pony, and I, wishing if possible to save the 
plucky little animal’s life, fired two barrels into her, rolling her over just 
