HABITS OF THE TlGliR. 189 



" korinda " tree grows ; the branches of this tree are not merely closely 

 intertwined, but hang on all sides down nearly to the ground, and thus 

 furnish him witii concealment from his foes and shelter from the sun. 

 Here he reposes during the heat of the day, and hence he sallies out or 

 springs upon his prey. In the steppes of Siberia he iiidcs in corners of 

 the rocks, or scratches away the snow between the clumps of grass. 



The tiger is not exclusively nocturnal in his habits ; he is often seen 

 by day, but prefers the twilight hours. In the southern parts of his 

 domain he lies in wait near roads, forest paths, or rivers where he knows 

 that both men and beasts come to drink. In India tlie lioly rivers, to 

 which crowds of votaries go to perform the ceremonies of their religion, 

 supply him with many a victim. In Siberia he is found near the salt- 

 licks, for he knows as well as the hunters do that the game he seeks 

 for can be found there. In Java, where the wild swine are a plague, 

 he keeps their numbers down, but repays himself for any benefit he con- 

 fers on man by levying contributions on his horses or dogs. Me is, in 

 that island, generally found in the same thickets as the peacock. " When 

 the peacocks cry, the tiger is nigh," is a saying of the Dutch colonists ; 

 the Javanese natives say the peacock tells the dwellers in the wilderness 

 that the tiger is leaving his lair. The tiger's mode of attack is like that 

 of the lion ; the wounds he inflicts are extremely dangerous, for even 

 when they are comparati>^ely slight, lockjaw is apt to supervene ; as in the 

 case of wounds from the lion, they are said to open again periodically. 



Anecdotes of the monster's strength and audacity are numerous. 

 One attacked a regimental baggage camel and broke its skull with one 

 blow, another is said to have pulled down an elephant. Horses become 

 paralyzed with fear and quiver in every limb when the dreaded foe 

 appears ; the very scent of a tiger's presence, or the sight of a dried 

 skin, is sufficient to set them plunging and kicking in their attempts to 

 escape from the dreaded propinquity. One horse, which had been terri- 

 fied by a tiger, could not afterward endure the sight of an}' brindled 

 animal whatever, and was only restored to ordinary courage by the 

 ingenious device of his master, who kept a brindled dog in the same 

 stable with the horse until the poor beast became reconciled to the 

 abhorred striped fur. 



The buffalo, however, faces him and often slays him. A tiger had 

 sprung on to the neck of a buffalo ; the latter rushed with such violence 

 against a tree that the aggressor was hurled to the ground, and before 



